


JH 335 
S8 
opy 1 



U. S. COMMISSION OF FISH AND FISHERIES, 
GEORGE M. BOWERS, Commissioner. 



AQUATIC PRODUCTS IN ARTS AND INDUSTRIES, 



FISH OILS, FATS, AND WAXES. 
FERTILIZERS FROM AQUATIC PRODI (TS. 



BY 



CHARLES II. STKVKNSON. 



Extracted from U. S. Fish Commission Eeport for 1902. Pages 177 to 279. 
Plates 10 to 25. 



WASHINGTON: 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 

1 o . 



SH 335 
.S8 
Copy 1 



. S. COMMISSION OF FISH AND FISHERIES, 
GEORGE M. BOWERS. Commissioner. 



AQUATIC PRODUCTS JN ARTS AND INDUSTRIES. 



FISH OILS, FATS, AND WAXES. 
FERTILIZERS FROM AQUATIC PRODUCTS. 



BY 



CHARLES H. STEVENSON. 



Extracted from U. S, Fish Commission Report for 1902. Pages 177 to 279. 
Plates 10 to 25. 




WASHINGTON: 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE, 

1903. 



D, of a 

MAR 5 1908 



>V 



AQUATIC PRODUCTS IN ARTS AND INDUSTRIES. 



FISH OILS, FATS, AND WAXES. FERTILIZERS FROM 
AUUATIC PRODUCTS. 



By CHARLES H. STEVENSON. 



17; 

P. C. 1908 12 



TABLE OF CONTEXTS. 



H'ISII OIIjS. FATS. AM) WAXES. 

Page. 

General review 183 

The whale oils: 

Brief review i if whaling industries. . . L86 

The blubber and its yield of oil L88 

( '(inversion of the blubber into oil 193 

Refining sperm oil and whale oil 199 

Porpoise and black-fish oils 204 

Oils from seals, wahms, etc.: 

Seal oils : 209 

Sea-elephant oil 211 

Walrus oil 214 

Oil from sea-lions and fur-seals 215 

Oils from livers of cod and related species: 

Sources of supply 216 

Description of livers and resulting oils 218 

Preparation of medicinal oil 221 

Production of curriers 1 oil _ 225 

Oils from the livers of sharks and related 

species 227 

178 



PISH OILS, PATS, AND WAXES- continued. 

Page. 

Menhaden oil 232 

Herring oil 236 

Oil from waste fish _ 

Oil from fish heads .. ;.'J(i 

Oil from viscera of fish_ __. :.'ll 

Miscellaneous oils 242 

Spermaceti refining and manufacture 211 

Ambergris 24? 

FERTILIZERS. 

General review 253 

The menhaden industry: 

History and extent of the industry . . . 2S6 

Cooking and pressing the fish 259 

Treatment of the scrap 265 

Fertilizers from fish waste or refuse 269 

Fertilizers from crustaceans 273* 

Agricultural lime from mollusk shells . . . 274 

Seaweeds as fertilizers 275 



Report U. S. F. C. 1902. 



Plate 10. 




AQUATIC PRODUCTS IN ARTS AND INDUSTRIES. 



By Charles H. Stevenson-. 



PREFATORY NOTE. 

The diversity and magnitude of the industries based on the utiliza- 
tion and manufacture of aquatic products are not fully appreciated. 
In a previous publication of this Commission a the great variety of 
fishery products used for food and their methods of preparation were 
discussed. In addition to the numerous items of food articles, the 
materials employed in the arts and industries compare favorably in 
variety and interest with similar products of the land. These may be 
roughly separated into five classes, viz, (1) oils, fats, and waxes; 
(2) fertilizers from aquatic products; (3) skins of aquatic animals 
and their products of furs and leathers; (1) the hard substances, as 
shells, scales, bones, ivories, etc., and (5) miscellaneous articles not 
properly classed with any of the foregoing, as glue, isinglass, seaweeds, 
sponges, marine salt, etc. The total value of the annual product of 
these throughout the world roughly approximates $45,000,000 in the 
condition in which they are first placed on the market, of which the 
United States contributes $11,000,000. 

Some of the most extensive fisheries of the world have been prose- 
cuted almost wholly for the purpose of supplying the oil markets. 
Whale oils were the first of all oils — animal or mineral — to achieve 
commercial importance, and for fully a century the whale fishery 
ranked as one of the principal industries of America. Indeed it was 
of far greater relative value in the industrial wealth of the country 
than the petroleum industries are at the present time. The seal fish- 
eries of Newfoundland, Norway, and other northern countries, which 
rank among the most daring and venturesome of marine enterprises, 
are dependent for their prosperity on the oil obtained from the thick 
blubber underlying the skins of the animals. The taking of men- 
haden on the Atlantic coast of the United States for conversion into 
oil and fertilizer gives employment to thousands of men and to several 
million dollars of capital. And in the various cod fisheries of the 
world the rendering of the livers into oil for medicinal as well as for 
technical uses is a source of great profit. In addition to these exten- 
sive industries there are numerous minor fisheries supported entirely, 
or to a large extent, by the oil markets. 

"The Preservation of Fishery Products for Food, Bulletin U. S. Fish Commission. 1898. 

179 



180 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

From all varieties of aquatic oils maybe separated, at a low tem- 
perature, a solid fat or grease known as "foots" or "stearin," some- 
what similar to the tallow obtained from sheep and oxen. This is 
obtained in the process of refining the oils, and the yield ranges from 
3 to 20 per cent of the bulk of the crude oil. It is sold at a few cents 
per pound, and is used as a substitute for tallow from sheep and oxen 
in sizing yarns, as emollient in leather-dressing, and for various other 
technical purposes. 

Bleaching the various marine oils produces a semi-solid Cat known 
as "spermsoap," " whale soap/' "menhaden soap," etc., according to 
the variety of oil treated. This material is used in smearing sheep, 
washing fruit trees, soap-manufacture, etc. 

In the process of refining sperm oil, instead of the foots, the wax- 
like spermaceti is obtained, the quantity yielded approximating 11 
per cent in weight of the crude sperm oil. Spermaceti is used princi- 
pally in candle-making, as an ointment for medicinal purposes, for 
producing a polish on linen in laundering, and for self-lubricating 
cartridges. 

Another wax-like substance peculiar to the sperm whale is amber- 
gris, an extremely valuable substance found at rare intervals, but 
sometimes in comparatively large quantities within the intestines of 
that animal, and also afloat on the sea or cast up on the shores. A 
single whale has yielded $50,000 worth of this material, and several 
intances are reported in which $20,000 worth has been obtained from 
one cetacean. Ambergris was formerly used as an incense, in cook- 
ery, as a medicine, and as a perfume. Its principal use at present is 
in the preparation of fine perfumes. 

The principal aquatic products used for fertilizer are seaweeds, 
shells of mollusks'and crustaceans, non-edible species of fish, espe- 
cially the menhaden, and waste parts of edible species. At present 
the quantity of this fertilizer produced annually in the United States 
alone approximates 420,000 tons, worth $2,120,000. This is capable 
of very great increase, especially in the quantity of seaweeds and 
waste fish employed. 

Doubtless 50 per cent of the world's stock of furs is obtained from 
aquatic animals. Formerly this percentage was greater, but it is 
reduced by the decrease in product, of beaver, fur-seal, otter, and sea- 
otter, and the large increase in quantity of certain land fur-bearers. 
Fully 75 per cent of all the furs produced in the United States arc 
yielded by aquatic animals,, principally the fur-seal, mink, muskrat, 
beaver, oiler, and sea-otter. The value of the annual output of these 
in the United States approximates $2,500,000 in the raw or undressed 
state. 

Leather is made from the skins of practically all the aquatic mam- 
mals and of most of the species of fish, but these usually rank 
among novelty or fancy leathers. Seal leather is produced in large 
quantities, the value of the annual product averaging $1,500,000. 



AQUATIC PRODUCTS IN ARTS AND INDUSTRIES. 181 

The hide of the beluga, or white whale, is one of the best of all skins 
for leather purposes, on account of its durability, strength, and pli- 
ability. It is sold as porpoise leather, and probably $200,000 worth 
of tanned hides are marketed annually. Alligator skins are also 
obtained in large quantities, and owing to the peculiarity of their 
markings, are used entirely as fancy leather. Tanned walrus hides, 
especially the thick ones, are in great demand for polishing-wheels 
and other mechanical purposes, and about 1100,000 worth are sold 
annually. Among the aquatic skins used to a less extent for leather 
purposes may be mentioned sea-lion, porpoise, sea-elephant, and a 
very large variety of fish skins, especially those of sharks. 

Of the hard substances existing in the form of shells, bones, scales, 
etc., shells are by far the most important. Nearly, if not quite, 
1,000,000 tons are secured annually in the United States, consisting 
principally of the shells of oysters, clams, river mussels, and a very 
much smaller quantity of other varieties. A fair valuation of these 
at the places of consumption would doubtless amount to $1,500,000; 
to this should be added about $000,000 as the value of pearls secured 
during the last year in the Mississippi Valley and elsewhere. The 
value of the shells secured outside of the United States, principally 
mother-of-pearl shells, amounts to $5,000,000 or $6,000,000 annually, 
and the pearls secured sell for nearly an equal amount. Pearls are 
not obtained in the seas in such large quantities as formerly, but their 
value is greatly increased. The manufacture of mother-of-pearl and 
sweet-water shell in the form of buttons, buckles, knife-handles, 
pistol-stocks, etc., gives employment to nearly 10,000 persons in this 
country and to probably three times that number in Europe and 
elsewhere. 

The yield of whalebone in the United States fisheries is less than 5 
per cent as much as it was 50 years ago, but the reduced yield has 
been largely counterbalanced by the increase in value per pound. 
The product in the American fisheries now approximates 120,000 
pounds each year, worth $500,000, and about $150,000 worth is obtained 
in all other parts of the world. At the present market price the total 
value of whalebone secured in the United States fisheries since 1850 
is not farjfrom $200,000,000. 

Comparatively little tortoise shell is produced in this country, the 
annual yield approximating $12,000 in value. The West Indies, 
South America, Africa, East Indies, Pacific islands, etc., supply 
probably $500,000 worth each year, much of which is manufactured 
in the United States. 

Little economic use is made of fish scales, except in the production 
of artificial pearls and other ornamental objects. Unique and attract- 
ive artificial flowers are made from the scales of sheepshead, tarpon, 
drum-fish, channel bass, etc. 

Cuttlebone and coral are not produced in the United States, but 
large quantities are imported into this country. 



182 REPORT OF OOMMISSIONEE <>K FISH AND FISHERIES. 

The yield of ivory in the form of walrus tusks, sperm-whale teeth, 
etc., is small a1 present, amounting to Less than $25,000 annually. 

The principal industrial use for hones of aquatic animals is for 
conversion into fertilizer. Several varieties of curious bones are used 
for ornamentation, but their aggregate value is inconsiderable. 

The sponge output of Florida approximates $500,000 annually, and 
llie value of the product throughout the world is probably no1 far 
from $5,000,000. 

The uses of seaweeds are numerous. They furnish thousands of 
tons of fertilizer, many nutritious foods, and a variety of chemicals, 
especially iodine and bromine. Other uses are in sizing fabrics, as a 
mordant in dyeing, in refining beer, in making paper, fishing lines, 
ropes, for stuffing upholstery, packing porcelain, etc. The Japanese 
have been especially adept in discovering uses for seaweeds. 

Glue-manufacture provides an outlet for the profitable use of much 
waste in dressing dried codfish. This material was formerly dis- 
carded as useless, but now tens of thousands dollars' worth of 
choicest glue for postage stamps, court-plaster, adhesive paper, labels, 
envelopes, for mechanical purposes, and for sizing of straw goods 
and textile fabrics, and likewise office and domestic mucilage are 
manufactured from fish skins. The product is very much stronger 
and more durable than glue made from the skins of mammals. 

Isinglass made from the sounds or swimming bladders of sturgeon, 
hake, cod, squeteague, etc., is used for clarifying fermented liquors, 
the cellular construction forming a sort of net which carries down 
floating particles. However, the use of this material has been much 
reduced, owing to the numerous substitutes obtained from domestic 
animals. 

Commercial albumen may be made from the eggs of cod and other 
species, but it has not yet been extensively manufactured. 

The preparation of oils and fertilizers, to which the present report 
is devoted, is intimately associated, especially in the case of the men- 
haden industry. The tissues remaining after the extraction of oil 
from herring and other waste fish, from the blubber of seals, porpoise, 
and the like, from the livers of cod and related species, the livers of 
sharks, from the waste parts of fish in dressing, etc., are commonly 
prepared for fertilizing purposes, and the preparation of the two 
materials is usually carried on in the same factory and in some 
instances by the same workmen. For this reason it appears desirable 
to combine in one paper the account of the preparation of oils and 
fertilizers from aquatic products. This paper, however, is divided into 
two parts, one relating to the preparation, characteristics, and uses 
of fish oils, fats, and waxes, and the other to the utilization of aquatic 
products as fertilizers. 



FISH OILS, FATS, AND WAXES. 



GENERAL REVIEW. 

Previous to 1600 there was comparatively little demand for oil of 
any kind. Tallow dips, pine knots, and the like afforded the princi- 
pal means of illumination. The quantity of machinery in use was 
small and lubricants were in little demand. The leather industries 
were undeveloped and the greases required in currying were obtained 
principally from the fat of the animal furnishing the skin, supple- 
mented later by certain vegetable oils. 

The value of whale oils for purposes of illumination was not unknown 
previous to the seventeenth century, but the fishermen were unequal 
to the task of capturing the cetaceans, in large numbers. A few that 
drifted ashore were secured, the use of the oil for illuminating pur- 
poses developed; and, as the experience and daring of the fishermen 
increased, their wanderings extended not only offshore, but to distant 
seas. After the invention of the Argand burner in 1784, whale oil 
became the principal illuminating agent, and at the beginning of the 
nineteenth century it was in general use. Not only were residences 
lighted with it, but also streets and municipal buildings. A large 
quantity of sperm oil was used in residences of the wealthy and also 
in lighthouses, that being the principal illuminant in the coastal lights 
of the United States, England, Scotland, Ireland, France, and other 
advanced countries up to 1832. The currying trade had in the mean- 
time increased in importance, and grease for softening was secured 
in the form of oil from seal, walrus, sea-elephant, cod livers, etc. 
The increasing use of machinery resulted in an enhanced demand for 
a lubricant, which was generally furnished in the form of sperm oil. 
This resulted in very high prices; sperm oil, for instance, ranged 
from $1 to $2 per gallon, although the fishery increased until it was 
one of the most important organized industries of the world. Other 
fish oils became important commercial products, including oils from 
tin; livers of eod, haddock, sharks, etc., from herring, menhaden, 
sardine, pilchard, and other species of the Clupeidce, family, and a 
miscellaneous variety of minor importance. 

The continued upward tendency in prices, as a result of an increased 
demand, led to endeavors to find substitutes. Lard oil was success- 
fully introduced as a summer lubricant in the place of sperm oil for 
ordinary uses. Colza or rape-seed oil likewise entered into competi- 
tion with it as an illuminant, and the process of refining was imrn'oved 
until it became a fairly satisfactory substitute at about half the price. 
In 1832 France adopted colza in place of sperm oil as a light-house 
illuminant, and in 1815 it was adopted in the light-houses and light- 

183 



184 EEPOET Ob' COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

ships of Greal Britain. The difficulty of obtaining rape-seed oil in 
the United States and the importance of the whaling industry to the 
national welfare caused the use of sperm oil in this country for ten 
yens longer, when through the researches and experiments of Pro- 
fessor Henry it was found practicable to use lard oil, and in 1862 that 
became the Llluminant in the light-houses of the United Stales. A 
few years later both colza and lard oils were superseded by forms of 
pel roleum. 

Not only did the products of petroleum take the place of aquatic- 
animal oils as illuminants, but they seriously interfered with them 
in the markets as lubricants. Then came the development of render- 
ing and refining a large number of vegetable oils, which are now 
used for many purposes formerly served by fish oils. Among these 
vegetable products are olive oil, cotton-seed oil, linseed oil, and, to a 
less extent, palm oil, cocoanut oil, corn oil, etc. The employment of 
these substances and a large decrease in the abundance of whales 
have resulted in a great reduction in the extent of the whale fishery, 
the fleet decreasing from 735 vessels in 184G to 38 in 1002. Those 
marine enterprises more or less associated with the whale fisheries, 
as the taking of seals, sea-elephants, walrus, etc., have decreased corre- 
spondingly. 

Fish oils have therefore, to a large extent, given place to land 
products, and their diminished sale and reduced price have greatly 
decreased the prosperity of many fisheries. At present the use of fish 
oils for illumination as compared with that of mineral oils is veiy 
small in those countries where the latter are obtainable, their prin- 
cipal use being in miners' lamps. But among many semicivilized 
people, especially those of subpolar regions, marine-animal oils are 
more easily obtained than petroleum, so that the native products con- 
tinue in use. And notwithstanding the large amount of mineral oils 
now used for lubrication of heavy machinery, there is yet an extensive 
demand for fish oils for that purpose, experience having shown that by 
their judicious blending with hydrocarbon oils a greater uniformity of 
lubrication is secured, and that less quantity Is required than by use 
of mineral oil alone. The outlook for an increased use of fish oils in 
leather-dressing is said to be not encouraging, owing to a decrease 
in "hand-stuffing" and the increasing popularity of chrome tannage, 
in which only a small quantity of oil is required, and that usually a 
superior quality of neatsfoot. There is a wide field of technical uses 
wherein certain fish oils can not readily be dispensed with, espe- 
cially for lubricating delicate machinery, in steel-tempering and screw- 
cutting, as a body for paints to be applied to out-of-door surfaces, in 
the textile trades where only saponifiable oil can be satisfactorily 
employed, etc. • 

In addition to their many technical uses, marine-animal oils are 
also used for nourishment to a considerable extent. The Eskimos 
and other primitive people depend very largely on the blubber of 



AQUATIC PRODUCTS IN ARTS AND INDUSTRIES. 185 

seals, walrus, and whales, for food supplies. Among more civilized 
nations fish oils are not used ordinarily as an article of diet; an excep- 
tion, however, is the well-known and valuable cod-liver oil, of which 
twenty or thirty thousand barrels arc annually consumed in cases of 
malnutrition. Certain therapeutic qualities are also attributed to 
various minor oils, as those from the shark, eulachon, manatee, 
dugong, alligator, terrapin, etc., but the use of these is not general. 

The marine-animal oils are divisible into four principal groups, viz: 
(1) blubber oils; (2) head oils; (3) liver oils, and (1) body oils. The 
blubber oils are obtained from the layer of fat between the skin and 
the flesh or muscular tissues of whales, seals, walrus, sea-lion, por- 
poise, black-fish, etc. Head oils are secured from cavities in the skull 
and from other head parts of sperm whales, black-fish, porpoise, 
sword-fish, halibut, etc. Some of these are of superior quality, as 
those of the black-fish and porpoise, for instance, which sell for $5 to 
|10 per gallon. The head oil of the sperm whale yields the valuable 
spermaceti. Those 1 of the third group are obtained principally from 
the livers of cod and to a less extent from haddock, hake, pollock, 
cusk, ling, sharks, and skates. The bodies, heads, and viscera of 
these fish are so slightly oleaginous that they are rarely utilized eco- 
nomically for oil purposes. The body oils, or fish oils," as they are now 
generally known commercially, are obtained principally from species 
of the herring family — the menhaden in America, the herring, sar- 
dine, and pilchard in Europe, and the iwashi in Japan. In case these 
fish are used for food in large quantities, the viscera are generally 
devoted to oil-rendering. Most of the other species of food-fish con- 
tain so little oil that it is profitable to use only the intestines or other 
refuse dressings for this purpose. And in some the yield of oil is so 
small that not even the waste parts can be profitably utilized in this 
manner. In addition to the foregoing, there are a number of oils 
produced in various localities which enter largely into the domestic 
economy of those procuring them and yet are of little commercial 
importance, as alligator oil, turtle oil, terrapin oil, etc. 

The total annual product of crude oil from marine animals through- 
out the world is estimated at 18,300,000 gallons, of which 5,500,000 
represents the product from the blubber and fat of whales, seals, and 
the like; 5,300,000 gallons is from the livers of cod, shark, etc., and 
7,500,000 gallons from menhaden, herring, sardine, and other species, 
including waste in dressing fish. 

Even a brief survey of the fish- oil industries reveals the fact that 
they are not by any means so extensive as the natural resources per- 
mit. True, the right-whale fishery is prosecuted apparently to an 

fi The term "fish oil" is used by chemists and other technologists as comprising oils from all 
aquatic animals. Previous to 1800 it generally referred to whale oils. At the present time its 
commercial use is generally confined to oils obtained from fish alone. In a restricted sense it 
refers especially to oil obtained from the principal species of the herring family in the locality 
in which the term is applied. Thus "fish oil" on the Atlantic coast of the United States indi- 
cates in a restricted, commercial smso. the oil of the menhaden; in Norway, the herring; in 
Prance, the sardine; in Japan, the iwashi, etc. 



186 BEPOET <>K OOMMlSSiONEB OE FISH AND FISHERIES. 

extreme limit, and the same is possibly true of the seal fisheries of 
certain regions. However, there is probably no other oil-yielding 
fishery of which thesamecan be said. Sperm whales are more numer- 
ous than they were fifty years ago, when the United States employed 

300 vessels in I heir capture, securing 100,000 barrels of oil annually, 
as compared with the present product of less than 20,000 barrels. 
Porpoise and other small cetaceans exist in such large numbers that 
hundreds of thousands if not millions of gallons of oil can be secured 
from them. Only a very small percentage of the oil-yielding sharks 
are utilized! Much greater quantities of menhaden might be taken 
than are secured at present, and comparatively little of the abundant 
waste lish and dressings or refuse from the markets, canneries, etc., 
are used in oil-production. 

The principal reason for this is that the present economic condi- 
tions do not warrant an extension of these industries. The market 
for fish oils is regulated by thai of the mineral and vegetable prod- 
ucts which are used as substitutes, and which can be sold at very low 
prices, making it necessary to exercise very great economy in the 
production of fish oils. Vessels, factories, etc., already on hand may 
be used, but in the United States at least it is questionable whether 
the building of new and costly equipment for oil-production would 
prove profitable under present market conditions except in specially 
favorable instances, unless the closest economy be practiced. The 
vessels composing the present sperm-whaling fleet, for instance, may 
be kept employed with a fair profit, but with the present prices the 
fitting out of expensive new vessels can scarcely meet with a large 
return on capital invested. The present equipment of menhaden 
steamers and factories was built and paid for during a period of 
prosperity, when menhaden oil was high in price, and they may be 
continued in service with profit, but the conditions are not encour- 
aging for a great extension of the industry. If a profitable market 
could be found for the product, the yield of fish oils throughout the 
world could probably be increased many times its present extent. 

THE WHALE OILS. 

BRIEF REVIEW OP THE WHALING INDUSTRIES. 

It is scarcely within the province of the present report to enter into 
a detailed history of the whale fisheries, unquestionably the most 
picturesque and once the most extensive of all marine industries of 
the world. In order, however, to present a fair idea of the produc- 
tion and utilization of whale oils, it is desirable to review briefly the 
history and present conditions of these industries. 

Whales are divisible into two groups, (1) toothed whales and (2) 
bone-bearing or whalebone whales. To the first group belongs the 
sperm whale or cachalot, which yields sperm oil, spermaceti, ivory, 
aud ambergris. This group also includes the bottle-nose whale, the 



Repot U. S. F. C. 1902. 



Plate 1 1. 




AQUATIC PRODUCTS IN ARTS AND INDUSTRIES. 187 

pilot whale, the beluga or white whale, and many species which are not 
popularly known as whales, including the narwhal, grampus, orca or 
killer, dolphins, porpoises, etc. The bone-bearing whales are divisi- 
ble into two classes, (a) smooth whales and (6) furrowed whales, or 
rorquals. The first embraces the right whales of different species 
and the bowhead or Arctic whale, all of which are prized for their oil 
and baleen. Of the rorquals, or those whales possessing longitudinal 
folds of blubber on throat and stomach, may be mentioned the hump- 
back, finback, sulphur-bottom, and California gray whale. As these 
are ordinarily difficult of capture and are of minor value, the whale- 
bone being rather short for commercial use, they have not been pur- 
sued so extensively as have the sperm, right, and bowhead whales. 
In the United States markets the standard varieties of oils are "sperm 
oil" and "whale oil," and sometimes "•humpback oil." " Whale oil" 
is a mixture of the product of all whales except the sperm whale, and 
sometimes includes that of black-fish and walrus. 

The use of whale oil appears to be of ancient origin. Doubtless it 
was first obtained from whales accidentally stranded on the shores, a 
more frequent occurrence during the early abundance of the cetaceans 
than a1 present, when their numbers have been so greatly reduced by 
excessive fisheries. As the demand for the oil increased beyond the 
supply available from stranded whales, individuals sighted from the 
shore were attacked and beached. Owing to the frailty of the boats 
and equipment, this was a more daring attempt than might be sup- 
posed. It is difficult to trace the origin of the fishery, but certainly 
it Avas prosecuted a thousand years ago. 

Just prior to the Revolutionary war, according to Starbuck and 
other authorities, there were 183 American vessels in the right-whale 
fishery of the North Atlantic waters, and 125 were engaged in cruis- 
ing for sperm whales from Newfoundland to the coast of Brazil. The 
Revolutionary war and the war of 1812 interfered with the fisheries; 
but during the rjeriod of peace following 1815 they increased greatly 
in extent until 1846, when the fleet numbered 078 ships and barks, 35 
brigs, and 22 schooners, a total of 735 vessels, with an aggregate ton- 
nage of 233,189 tons, and a value of $21,075,000, exclusive of outfits 
and supplies. The entire capital invested in the fishery and its asso- 
ciated industries at that time approximated -$40,000,000, and 40,000 
persons derived from it their chief support. During the same year 
the whaling fleet of all Europe numbered but 230 vessels. The crude 
value of the American catch from 1840 to 1800 averaged about 
88, 000,000 annually. The greatest value was in 1854, when 2,315,024 
gallons of sperm oil worth $1.48f per gallon, 10,074,800 gallons of 
whale oil worth 59f cents per gallon, and 3,445,200 pounds of whale- 
bone worth 394 cents per pound were secured, the total value being 
$10,802,594. In the preceding year, 1853, the total product was 
3,240,025 gallons of sperm oil, 8,193,591 gallons of whale oil, and 
5,052,300 pounds of whalebone, the whole valued at $10,700,521. 



188 EEPOET OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES, 

Sperm oil ami whale oil then served nearly all the diversified uses 
for which oil was required, the chief exception Toeing Leather-dressing, 
for which neatsf oot and cod oils were largely employed. The prin- 
cipal uses were as Llluminant, lubricator, in cordage-manufacture, 
screw-cutting, and steel-tempering. The streets of the principal cities 
were lighted with the oil, and theaters and public buildings were 
Lighted with gas made from the foots. A stock anecdote at the time 
referred to foreign sailors climbing up the posts of the New York 
street lamps to drink the whale oil, thus leaving the city in darkness. 

The extent of the fisheries soon began to tell on the abundance of 
the whales, necessitating much longer and more costly voyages, and 
consequently higher prices for the products. With the increased price 
came the active search for substitutes, and colza oil and lard oil were 
largely employed. The competition, however, had little effect on the 
market for whale products until the adoption of petroleum as an illu- 
minant, and subsequently as a lubricant. Its dangerous qualities 
at fust greatly checked its use, but as improved methods of refining 
were introduced it was quite generally adopted and proved most influ- 
ential in decreasing the profits of the whale fishery. 

The restricted market and the reduced price resulted in a gradual 
decrease of the whale fishery. Various agencies accelerated this 
decrease, while others retarded it. Among the former may be men- 
tioned the destructive influences of the civil war, including the sink- 
ing of 36 vessels in blockading Charleston Harbor, and the burning 
of 46 vessels, with outfit, supplies, and cargoes by privateers; also 
the loss of 33 ships in the ice of the Arctic Ocean in 1871, and a similar 
abandonment of 12 vessels in 1870. Among the agencies tending to 
retard the decrease in the fishery is the greatly enhanced value of 
whalebone, which increased from 13 cents per pound in is:;:; lo 87 per 
pound in 1801. Indeed it is the whalebone market alone which sus- 
tains the present right-whale fisheries of the world. The table on 
page 2()4, showing the annual product of sperm oil and whale oil from 
1860 to 1902, inclusive, presents a fair idea of 1he gradual reduction 
in extent of the American whale fisheries. Owing to the decreased 
extent of the fishery, sperm whales are increasing in numbers and 
are apparently more abundant at present than at any time since the 
fifties. The bowhead and right whales, however, are doubtless more 
scarce than at any time since their capture became an object of com- 
mercial pursuit. 

In l!)01,the 20 sperm-whalers cruising in the Atlantic Ocean met 
with good success, especially those on the Hatteras and Charleston 
grounds, securing 12,550 barrels of oil, according to the W1ialemeu\s 
Shipping List, an average of 627 barrels to each vessel. The same 
season in the Arctic and North Pacific, however, was the poorest for 
many years. The fleet there consisted of 11 steamers and 6 barks. 
Three steamers were lost, and the total catch was only 4:> bowheads 
and 13 right whales, as compared with so bowheads and 14 right 



AQUATIC PRODUCTS IN ARTS AND INDUSTRIES. 189 

whales in 1900. The yield of oil approximated 2,870 barrels, and of 
whalebone 105,150 pounds. Five barks were employed in sperm- 
whaling' off the coast of Japan, taking- 4,100 barrels of oil. The mar- 
ket for sperm oil in 1901 opened at 55 cents per gallon, but gradually 
increased and closed the year at about 68 cents per gallon. The 
price of whale oil at San Francisco was 32 to 38 cents and in the 
Eastern markets 38 cents per gallon. 

In 1902 the whaling fleet of the United States consisted of 8 steamers, 
18 barks and brigs, and 12 schooners, aggregating 8,306 tons. Of 
these, 11 barks and 10 schooners were sperm-whale fishing in the 
Atlantic Ocean, 8 steamers in the Arctic, 6 barks in Okhotsk Sea and 
off the coast of Japan, 2 schooners in Hudson Bay, and 1 brig at Deso- 
lation Island. 

The total whale-oil product of the world at present approximates 
3,000,000 gallons yearly; of which 750,000 gallons are produced by the 
United States fisheries, 1)00,000 by those of Norway, and the remain- 
der by Scotland, Russia, Japan, Newfoundland, and other countries. 

THE BLUBBER AND ITS YIELD OF OIL IN DIFFERENT WHALES. 

The blubber is a layer or blanket of fat lying between the skin and 
the flesh or muscles and encompassing the bodies of all cetaceans 
and likewise of most of the other aquatic mammals. It varies in 
thickness from 1 to 22 inches, according to the species, size, and 
condition of the animals. The blubber of right whales is thicker, on 
an average, than that of the cachalot or sperm whale, although an 
individual of the last-named species has afforded fat 22 inches thick. 
The blubber of most species is tough and elastic, but that of the 
humpback is soft and yielding, and the ropes and chains encompassing 
it tear out easily. The blubber of poor whales is hard, compact, and 
tenacious; but when the animals are fat it is softer and yields oil 
readily, even when handled. In color it varies from a yellowish or 
dirty white to a somewhat unusual pinkish or reddish cast. The 
whitish blubber is usually found on young whales, more especially 
sucking calves, and is of a milky appearance. That of old whales 
has a coarse grain, and yields or gives out the oil freely; hence it is 
not so difficult to boil as is the fat of young whales, from which it is 
almost impossible at times to extract the oil, the texture being so fine 
and close. 

In case of the baleen whales the blubber from all parts of the ani- 
mal is commingled and boiled together. With the sperm whale, how- 
ever, the process of saving the oil is different. The most valuable oil 
of this species is found in a large cavity or reservoir known as the 
"case," situated anterior to the cranium, which yields clear oil and 
spermaceti, in equal quantities. These products are known as "head 
matter." Lying beneath the case is a wedge-shaped mass of pinkish 



190 EEPOBT OF OOMMISSIOTfEE OF PISH A.ND FISHERIES. 

fat, com posed of oil, spermaceti, and "white horse," the last being an 
extremely tough and sinewy blubber-like substance found about the 
head and neck, as well as upon oilier parts of the whale. The lower 
anterior portion of the junk, known as the "nib end," is similar to the 
body blubber and devoid of spermaceti. Spermaceti is also found on 
certain parts of the body, especially in the core of the "hump" and 
about the "ridge," situated along the back toward the ''small," but 
not in so great abundance as in the case. The yield of the head 
averages aboul one-third of the total oil-product of the sperm whale. 
Instances have been reported, however, in which it has been 50 per 
cent and even as high as 60 per cent of the total. 

The following parts in the sperm whale are utilized as an oil-yield- 
ing product: The body blubber, case, junk, hump, ridge, lower jaw, 
head skin, scalp, small flukes, vertebrae, and fin bones. The bones 
of all whales are porous or spongy in texture, and the cavities are 
filled with more or less oil. The small bones, such as the fin bones 
and the vertebrae, as well as the "pans," or broad posterior extremi- 
ties of the lower jaw-bone, are chopped up with axes and boiled out. 
The cranium, or, as it is known to whalemen, the "scalp," is gener- 
ally thrown overboard, but sometimes it is chopped up and boiled. 
The "head skin," or the great mass of fat covering the scalp, may be 
rendered if whales are scarce, but when they are plentiful its utiliza- 
tion is not profitable. Some of it is exceedingly tough, and the small 
quantity of oil it contains is difficult of extraction. 

Whales are generally rated by the amount of oil which they yield 
rather than by the size or length. The yield is expressed in barrels, 
and an animal may be a " 40-barreler " or a "100-barreler." In 
appearance they are often deceptive, the largest ones not always 
yielding the greatest amount of oil. Usually the whalemen approxi- 
mate the product with remarkable accuracy, but sometimes their 
guesses miss the mark widely. Blubber yields about 75 per cent of 
its weight in oil, 4 tons of blubber producing about '! tons of oil, each 
containing 252 gallons wine-measure. Sperm whales yield from 5 to 
145 barrels of oil, averaging about 25 or 30 for the cows and 75 to 00 
for the bulls. 

The oil-producing parts of the right whales are the body blubber; 
the tongue; the headgear, comprising the head, scalp, throat, lips, 
and head skin ; and the blubber on the fins. The right whales 
yield a larger quantity of oil than the cachalot, and the bowhead or 
Arctic whale yields a larger quantity than the right whale of tem- 
perate waters. In 1861 the General Pike, of* New Bedford, took a 
Tight whale on the Kadiak ground which stowed down 274 barrels of 
oil. The schooner Lizzie P. Simmons, New London, killed a. bow- 
head wdiale on October 28, 1882, in Cumberland Inlet, which yielded 
2,550 pounds of whalebone and 6,000 gallons of oil, the value of the 
former being |7,687 and of the latter 13,500, a total of $11,187 from 
a single animal. According to whalemen, the right whales now cap- 



AQUATIC PJRODUCTS IN AETS AND INDUSTRIES. 191 

fcured are not so large as formerly, but the sperm whales seem to 
average about the same. 

The humpback whales and the finback whales of all oceans are fre- 
quently captured by deep-sea whalemen and often by shore whalemen, 
especially in the Finmarken fishery. Since both of these varieties 
usually sink when killed, they are rarely hunted except "on sound- 
ings. " The oil-yielding portions of the humpback are the body blubber ; 
head skin; lips, which are small; tongue; entrail fat, the source of a 
large percentage of the oil, and the striated folds of fat on the breast 
and abdomen. The entrail fat resembles very closely in appearance 
the corresponding fatty substance of the ox; its oil is of the same 
grade as that of the blubber of this species, which is equal in grade 
to the oil of right whales. 

Not only are the oil and whalebone yielded by finback whales much 
less in quantity, but they are also inferior in quality to those obtained 
from the right whales. For this reason, and also on account of their 
great activity and the difficulty of capturing them by harpooning, 
they were formerly neglected by whalers; but since the employment 
of steam vessels with bomb guns and explosive lances an extensive 
fishery for them has been established on the Norwegian and New- 
foundland coasts and minor fisheries on the coasts of Russia and Japan. 

The California gray whale is occasionally taken in the lagoons of 
Japan and on the west coast of the United States. The oil-bearing 
parts of this species which are utilized are the body blubber, head 
skin, throat, lips, flukes, and entrail fat. According to Capt. George 
O. Baker, of New Bedford, during several } T ears following 18G6 a brig 
from New Bedford, Mass. , made quite a business of catching California 
gray whales for the food markets of Japan. 

The bottle-nose whale, so called from the peculiar shape of its head, 
yields on an average about 12 barrels of oil. The principal places 
where this species is caught are along the edges of the ice fields of 
northern Europe, between Bear Island and Iceland, the fishery being 
X^rosecuted principally by Norwegians hailing from Tonsberg and 
Sandef jord. Like the sperm whale, the bottle-nose x>ossesses a quan- 
tity of oil in the cavity of the head, which yields spermaceti in the 
process of refinement. The blubber oil of the bottle-nose comes next 
to sperm oil in quality. It gives no residuum, and is therefore 
employed for lubricating small machines, spindles in mills, etc. 

Besides the above, a number of minor cetaceans are occasionally 
utilized for their oil; among them the orea or killer whale, the nar- 
whal, the beluga or white whale, the black-fish, and the x>orpoise. 
These have a coating of blubber ranging from one-half to 4 inches 
in thickness, and, although not extensively sought after, many are 
taken in various parts of the world. 

The beluga is xflentiful in the Arctic seas and in the North Pacific 
and comparatively numerous on the Labrador coast and in the St. 



192 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

Lawrence River, where it forms the object of a small but profitable 
fishery. The steam-whalers sometimes pursue and capture it in great 
numbers in the Arctic, bul only when the Greenland whale cannot 
be found, for the yield of oil is small and the animal is so swift and 
active thai it is not readily captured. The adult is from 10 to 15 feet 
in length, and of a creamy white color. The blubber is about 2 inches 
thick, and each animal yields from 20 to 100 gallons of oil excellent in 
lubrical ing qualities. 

The orca affords a good variety of oil, but owing to its aggressive- 
ness it is not often attacked by the whalers. It has occasionally been 
captured on the New England coast, and has also been taken on the 
west coast of Africa, especially oft" Walfisch Bay. The blubber is 2 
or 3 inches thick, and simila" in color and texture to that of the sperm 
whale. 

The narwhal yields a small quantity of oil, which is used consider- 
ably by the Eskimos and Greenlanders. It is ordinarily very pale 
in color, in fact almost colorless. The narwhal is not usually an 
object of pursuit by our whalemen, as its capture is surrounded with 
many difficulties, owing to its retreats in the ice floes. The valuable 
black-fish and porpoise oils are discussed in a separate chapter. 

The following tabulated statement of the yield of oil from the sev- 
eral species of cetaceans has been prepared with much care after con- 
sultation with the most experienced whalemen of various ports: 



Species. 



Right whale, Pacific ._ 
Bight whale, Atlantic 

Bowhead 

Sperm whale. 

Humpback, Pacific 

Humpback, Atlantic. . 

Finback, Pacific 

Finback, Atlantic 

( 'alif ornia gray whale 

Bottle-nose whale 

< )rca or killer whale . . 
Beluga or white whale 
Black-fish 



Yield of oil in bar- 
rels of 31j gallons. 



Varia- 
tions. 



25 to 250 

25 151) 



250 

145 

110 

Km 

70 

80 

60 

25 

6 

3 

4 



Average. 



90 

ra 

Km 
45 
42 
4(1 
85 
38 
30 
12 

l. 

u 



The methods of cutting-in and removing the blubber have already 
been described by numerous writers, and especially by James Temple 
Brown/' rendering unnecessary any extended description in this paper. 

Suffice it to state that the whale is attached to the side of the vessel, 
and by cutting in a spiral line and at the same time rolling the 
cetacean, the blubber is removed in a helical strip 5 or 6 feet wide, 
and this is boarded in lengths of 12 or 15 feet, called "blanket-pieces." 
The manner of doing this and of boarding the head gear is germane 
to nautical engineering rather than to the subject of oil-rendering. 



"Fishery Industries of the United States, Vol 2. Sec. 5, p. 278. 



Report U. S. F. C. 1902. 



Plate 12. 




REMOVING BLUBBER FROM WHALE BEACHED ON CALIFORNIA COAST. 




TRY-WORKS ON MODERN WHALER, LOOKING AFT. 



AQUATIC PEODUCTS IN A.RTS AND INDUSTRIES. 193 

CONVERSION OF THE BLUBBER INTO OIL. 

The following notes on the present methods of converting whale 
blubber into oil are the results of inquiries and investigations made 
by the writer during the last four years, and especially in October, 
1901, when many practical whalemen were interviewed. Especially 
are we indebted to Capt. George O. Baker, Capt. Charles II. Robbins, 
Capt. James Avery, and Mr. W. R. Wing, of New Bedford, Mass. 

The reduction of oil from the solid mass of blubber, though tedious 
in detail, is an operation of simple character, requiring merely that 
the substance shall be exposed to heat. The blanket-pieces, 12 or 
15 feet long and 5 or 6 feet wide, are first "leaned," consisting in 
removing the pieces of muscles which cling to the fat during the 
process of cutting-in. By means of spades they are cut into smaller 
sections, called " horse-pieces," about 2 feet long and 6 inches wide. 
These are passed to the mincers. If the blubber is too thick, say 
over 12 inches, it is sometimes split before it is minced. 

Two methods of mincing the blubber are employed, viz : by hand 
and by machinery. The former was the first adopted and is gener- 
ally used at the present time. It is extremely laborious, but most 
whalemen prefer it, since the pieces are minced more uniformly and 
consequently the oil boils out more freely. The horse-pieces are laid 
lengthwise and with the flesh side downward upon a bench called 
the "mincing-horse," and are scored or cut into slices varying from 
one-fourth to three-fourths inch thick, called "minced horse- rjieces." 
The knife cuts through the skin, but is stopped within about an inch 
of the base, so that the slices are held together like the leaves of a 
book, and in this condition they are pitched into the try-pots. 

The try- works are built of brick athwartships between the foremast 
and the mainmast. The usual dimensions are 8 or 10 feet long, 7 or 
8 feet wide, and about 4^ feet high. The first course of bricks, or 
the base, is laid in openwork, forming channels through which the 
water may freely circulate. The fireplaces, or " arches," as the} 7 are 
known aboard a whale ship, are strengthened by pieces of iron and 
are furnished with sliding doors. Two large metallic try-pots are 
placed within the try-works, with their bottoms resting upon the 
arches or furnaces. These are shaped like the old-fashioned 3-legged 
pots so intimately associated with the domestic hearths of our fore- 
fathers. They range in capacity from 120 to 200 gallons each. 

While boiling the blubber, the fires are kept up day and night. 
Naturally, the fuel supply is an item of no small consideration to the 
whalemen. A quantity of cord- wood, each stick sawed into two 
pieces, and all kinds of refuse wood are included in the vessel's outfit 
and relied upon for starting the fires. But when fairly under way the 
highly combustible residue of the fat, known as "scrap," is mainly 
depended upon. Once in awhile a whale is secured so fat that the 
scrap is not sufficient to keep the fires going and the "fat lean " and 

F. C. 1902 13 



1 ( ,>4 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

similar materials arc burned, and sometimes even a part of the rich 
blubber is consumed as fuel in order to save the remainder. 

It is well known that the boiling point- of oil far exceeds that of 
water. So intense is the heat at times that the solder upon the imple- 
ments used about the pots is melted. It is important that all water 
should be expelled in order that the oil may not become rancid when 
barreled. It is equally important that every precaution should be 
taken to prevent water from getting into the pots during the process 
of boiling, the act ion of the oil under such circumstances depending 
upon the quantity of the extraneous fluid which is suddenly brought 
in contact with it. If the pots are not sheltered heavy rain may cause 
the oil to foam up, and when the vessel ships a heavy sea or when a 
very heavy rainstorm occurs, the contents of the pots are apt to throw 
up an immense cloud of steam and scatter the seething oil. Commu- 
nicating with the fire, the oil is ignited with a flash, and the streams 
of burning liquid pour out upon the deck, sometimes with disastrous 
effect. As soon as the contents of the pots show a tendency to boil 
over, pieces of fresh blubber are pitched in, and if this is not suffi- 
cient the fire is immediately banked. 

To prevent the vagrant pieces of lean which have accompanied the 
blubber from clinging and burning to the side and bottom of the pot 
and thus darkening the oil, the boiling mass is vigorously stirred. 
This is one of the most important duties in the process of oil-rendering. 

Instruments are never used on a whale ship for testing the heat or 
culinary condition of the oil; the men rely mainly on their experience 
as to the best time for removing it, judging either by the color of the 
scrap or by spitting into the boiling mass, this producing a peculiar 
crepitating noise when the blubber has been sufficiently cooked. 

As fast as the pieces of blubber are resolved into oil, the residuary 
fragments are transferred to a rough box called the " scrap-hopper " 
or "strainer-cooler." Its size depends upon the dimensions of the 
try- works, but usually it holds from 1 to 14- pots of scrap. It consists 
of two compartments, the upper portion, or hopper, for the scrap and 
the lower part for the oil, the two separated by a wooden partition 
containing numerous holes, so that the oil may readily drain from the 
material. 

The best and most economical way of utilizing the scrap has always 
been an important problem to the whalemen. The body of the sperm 
wdiale usually boils out freely, and consequently the scrap is dry, 
contains little oil, and is valuable only as fuel. The refuse of the 
right whale, how r ever, retains considerable oil, and the whalemen are 
averse to burning it until after they have extracted the oil by com- 
pression. The scrap from both the sperm and the right whales is 
regarded as an important fuel supply and is economically saved at 
each fare dining the voyage and used for boiling the blubber of whales 
taken subsequently. 

Although the oil may be thoroughlv cooked w r hen the first scrap 



AQUATIC PRODUCTS IN ARTS AND INDUSTRIES. 195 

is removed, it is not bailed off, the usual plan being to fill the pot 
with fresh blubber and again boil it down until the pot is full. In 
this manner the hot oil melts the cold blubber and the latter reduces 
the temperature of the oil already rendered. 

The bones of cetacea contain more or less oil, but they are utilized 
in oil-rendering only when whales are scarce. On a sjood voyage the 
endoskeletons are thrown overboard as fast as the coating of fat is 
removed, provided they are not required for fuel. 

The blubber of the "small" and the lobes of the flukes are cut into 
horse-pieces and boiled out with the body blubber, being of the same 
nature. The entrail fat of the humpback whale may be boiled by 
itself or with the blubber, whichever is more convenient, the oil of the 
fat and that of the blubber being of the same grade. The fins of the 
sperm whale are cut up with spades; the fatty covering is boiled with 
the body blubber, and the bones with the fat-lean. The oleaginous 
covering of the fins of the right whale is cut into horse-pieces and 
boiled with the body blubber; the fin bones of this species are rejected. 
The head skin, or the fatty covering of the crown of both the right and 
bowhead whales, and, indeed, the "headgear" of both, are cut into 
horse-pieces and run through the pots with the body blubber. 

The tongue of the bowhead as well as of right whales is also reduced 
to horse-pieces and boiled out. The tongue blubber is close-grained, 
or of much finer texture than that of the ordinary blubber, and is usu- 
ally boiled out last. When "green" its oil is extracted with great 
difficulty, if, indeed, this can be accomplished at all when cooked by 
itself, unless very finely minced ; hence it is sometimes laid aside and 
run through the pots in easy stages with the body blubber of the next 
cut. A muscular, fibrous substance known as "plum pudding" per- 
meates the blubber of the tongues of these two species of whales, 
extending longitudinally through the central part and in greater 
abundance near the roots. Most of it is utterly worthless and is 
thrown overboard when detached from the fat of the tongue. At 
times, however, when the fat predominates, the "plum pudding" is 
saved and boiled out with the tongue or the refuse of the whale. It is 
almost impossible to render it when cooked alone. 

The "ginger rolls," or plaited folds on the throat and breast of the 
humpback, are cut into horse-pieces and rendered with the body blub- 
ber; but the intermediate substance, resembling " white-horse " in 
some respects, is extremely tough and elastic, and is absolutely worth- 
less as an oil-yielding substance. 

In trying out a sperm whale, either the body blubber or the head 
matter, including the junk and case, may be boiled out first; but they 
are never cooked together, since it is not policy to mix'the oils, the head 
oil being worth a cent or two per gallon more than the body oil. The 
manner of preparing the case and junk for the pots being different, 
they will be described separately. 

If the body blubber is tried out first, the head matter is deposited 



196 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

ill junk casks as fast as it is whipped or bailed from the case. The 
junk is reduced to horse-pieces, placed in similar receptacles, and 
held in reserve with the head matter until the body blubber has been 
disposed of. The junk casks are ordinary oil casks with one head 
removed, and vary in capacity from 100 to 300 gallons each. They 
are also used to hold the scrap which is saved as fuel. Instead of the 
casks some of the larger vessels have one or two tanks between decks, 
which are used as temporary receptacles for the head matter and also 
for storing the oil. 

When ready to boil out the head, the try-pots are well scrubbed, 
greater care being taken than when boiling the body blubber. They 
are next about half filled with some of the head matter as soon as 
it is bailed from the case, the remainder being stowed awaj r as just 
mentioned. With legs and feet bare, men get into the pots and, 
standing in this odorous compound, squeeze out the soft pieces of 
tat . The oil flows freely between their fingers into the pots, while the 
refuse, called "twitter," is thrown into another receptacle, called the 
deck-pot, or perhaps into scrap-tubs. Notwithstanding the many 
improvements that have been made in the oil industries, no process 
of eliminating this membranous texture from the crude sperm oil has 
yet been discovered except the one just referred to — that of squeezing 
by hand. It is necessary to remove these fibers to prevent them from 
charring and darkening the oil. The case being carefully squeezed, 
the fires are started and the cooking then commences. The pots are 
spaded constantly to prevent the small but sometimes numerous par- 
ticles of twitter, which have not been removed, from burning against 
the sides and bottoms. Meantime other men are squeezing out the 
remainder of the head matter deposited in the junk cases, and this is 
kept in scrap-tubs and poured into the pots as soon as the first install- 
ment has been properly cooked and bailed off, this operation continu- 
ing until all the head matter has been boiled out. 

YV bile the case is boiling, some of the crew cut the junk into horse- 
pieces somewhat larger than the body-blubber horse-pieces, and these 
sections, after mincing, are pitched into a pot of thoroughly cooked 
head matter. The hot oil of the case soon dissolves the junk, the two 
mingling most intimately, being of a kindred nature. Sometimes the 
case 1 and the junk are boiled separately. 

White-horse in considerable quantity ranges through the junk in 
streaks. It is tougher and whiter in large whales than in small ones. 
The fatty substance found between these layers, or strata, is soft — 
about the consistencj'- of butter — and is of a pinkish cast, resembling 
somewhat in color the meat of a watermelon. The white-horse of large 
whales, especially of an aged male, is remarkably tough and is detached 
by means of sharp cutting-spades and thrown overboard. There is 
little oil in it, and its extreme toughness prevents it from being 
minced. If attempts are made to boil it out with the junk, it usually 
soaks up more oil than it yields. But the junk of small whales, more 



Report U. S. F. C. 1902. 



Plate 13. 




AQUATIC PKODUCTS IN AETS AND INDUSTRIES. 197 

particularly the cows, including both the white-horse and the fat, may 
be cut into horse-pieces, minced, and boiled out together. The process 
of mincing the pieces of junk and pitching them into the try-pots is 
identical with that previously described in connection with the body 
blubber. While some of the men are cutting out the white-horse and 
preparing the junk for the pots, others are scraping up the oil, which 
flows out profusely during the operations. 

The hump and ridge of the sperm whale are cut into horse-pieces 
and boiled out with the head and with the fat secured from the jaws. 

The term "twitter," which has been previously referred to as applied 
to the thread-like or membranous substance ranging through the con- 
tents of the case, is also applied to the lining of that reservoir. This 
is from 2 to 3 inches thick, glutinous, and extremely tough. In decap- 
itating the sperm whale, especially in severing near the bunch of 
the neck, a very sharp spade is required to cut through this toug'i 
and elastic formation. Although it is very difficult to manipulate, an 
economical whaleman never throws this substance away. Since it 
can not be boiled out with the case, for the reason above given, it is 
saved and run through the pots with the fat-lean after the case and 
junk have been cooked. 

There are two kinds of "lean," the "clear-lean" and the " fat-lean." 
The clear-lean, as the term signifies, is composed almost entirely of 
muscles, and is rejected as utterly worthless to the uses of whalemen. 
The fat-lean is composed of fat and lean so intermixed that sepa- 
ration by means of knives is impracticable. It is obtained prin- 
cipally about the jaw, as well as from other external parts of the 
whale. A large portion of it is cut from the blanket pieces during 
the process of leaning. When whales were abundant, the fat-lean 
was thrown away, but at present many, if not all, of the whale- 
men convert it into oil after the oil from the head and body blubber 
has been b6iled out and bailed off. The fires are then drawn, the 
try- works cooled down, and the fat-lean is pitched in. This is a deli- 
cate operation, and if not performed in the proper manner there is 
danger of cracking the pots. Water is usually placed in the pots 
first and the fat-lean is pitched in until the pots are about two-thirds 
full, and then the twitter and lipperings are added. The fires are 
started, the admixture brought to the boiling point, and the works 
are again cooled down. When cold the oil floats upon the surface, 
and the water and cracklings remain at the bottom. If the process 
lias been skillfully conducted, the oil may be almost as light and 
clear as any obtained from the better and purer parts of the whale. 
As a rule not more than two pots of this substance are boiled down, 
for the oil obtained from it is generally more or less sour — a result 
probably from either mixing it with water when boiling, or because it 
had become tainted through decomposition, or it maybe due perhaps 
to both causes. This oil is usually barreled separately. 

The oil obtained from the fat-lean of one whale is sometimes mixed 



198 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

with that obtained from the blubber of tin- next capture, this being 
effected by put t Lng a few gallons of it into the cooling tank every time 
a pot of the subsequent fare is hailed off. Notwithstanding the impor- 
tance of keeping the differenl grades of oil separate, some whalemen 
adulterate the blubber oil to a greater or less degree by the addition 
of fat-lean oil, yet they are prudent enough to save several casks 
of the latter grade to show on their return that the fat-lean has not 
only been economically saved, but also that its product has not been 
mixed with oils of higher grades. 

The slivers, or small pieces that have been cut and hacked from the 
blubber while reducing it to horse-pieces and mincing it, are also saved 
and boiled with the blubber. The " slumgullion " and "lipperings" or 
' ' dreen i ngs "of the blubber — consisting of a mixture of the blood which 
issues from the fat-lean and the salt water and oil which flows from the 
blubber while the men are handling it as they hoist it aboard ship, stow 
it away, and prepare it for the try-pots — though discarded in the palmy 
days of whaling, are now carefully husbanded and amalgamated. 
Like the sweepings of the floors of mints, this liquid refuse of the 
catch is refined in the whaleman's crucible in order that nothing may 
be lost. After the solid matter has been disposed of, both the deck 
lipperings and the blubber-room lipperings are usually deposited in 
barrels or tubs and there scalded with hot oil. The oil thus obtained is 
raked off and transferred to the cooling tank. In case the lipperings 
are not clean they are cooked with the fat -lean. 

" Slush " is the skimmings from the tops of the pots, and is usually 
saved by the cook, who is commonly entitled to one-half of it. On 
arrival home it is sold to manufacturers of soap, and it is even clarified 
and mixed with lard. At sea the whalemen sometimes eat the slush 
as a dressing in the form of gravy on sweet potatoes, etc., but it is 
doubtful if they could be induced to eat it ashore, although it is quite 
clean and nutritious. 

The different varieties of oils are barreled separately. A cask that 
has contained whale or humpback oil should be thoroughly cleansed 
before putting sperm oil into it, but a cask that has been used for 
sperm oil need not be cleansed should it be necessary to use it for 
whale oil; the small quantity of whale oil that might be left in the 
cask would perhaps make the sperm oil somewhat heavy, but a little 
sperm oil would not injure the whale oil. The casks of a ship engaged 
solely in right- whaling are not marked at all; should the vessel 
incidentally catch sperm whales, the casks containing oil from this 
species are marked S O, and the other casks are supposed to contain 
whale oil. Casks containing right-whale oil taken by a sperm-whaler 
are marked W or W O. The head oil of the sperm whale, unless the 
quantity be very small, is always kept in separate packages, which 
are marked II ; those containing the body oil of this species are marked 
S or Sp O. The packages of fat-lean oil bear the initials FLO, 
and black-fish oil li F O. Except when large catches are made, black- 



AQUATIC PRODUCTS IN ARTS AND INDUSTRIES. 199 

fish oil may be kept in meat barrels. The lettering is done in white 
paint, on the heads of the casks. When the oil is shipped home by 
another vessel the name of the ship is also branded on the cask, the 
impression being made with an implement called the ''ship's marking- 
iron, " and the casks ai*e numbered consecutively. 

REFINING SPERM OIL AND WHALE OIL. 

The rendering and care of the oil on shipboard having been 
described, there remains to be discussed its further treatment for 
commercial purposes, especially extraction of the foots and bleach- 
ing. The headquarters of the refiners of whale oils in the United 
States are at New Bedford, Mass., and San Francisco, Cal. Twenty 
years ago New Bedford monopolized the business, but large refineries 
have been erected at San Francisco, and at present about 20 per cent 
of the sperm oil and 60 per cent of the whale oil are refined at that 
port. The subjoined description is prepared almost wholly from 
information furnished by the principal refiners of New Bedford in 
1901. The writer wishes especially to acknowledge, in this connec- 
tion, the courtesies of Messrs. "William A. Robinson & Co., and of 
Messrs. Frank L. Young & Kimball. 

As received at the refineries, the casks of oil have been inspected 
and gaged by customs officers. They may have been kept in storage 
for months, and in some cases years, before reaching the refiner. 
Formerly, on the wharves at New Bedford might be seen thousands 
of casks filled with oil awaiting sale, being preserved from great leak- 
age in the meantime by a covering of seaweeds; but in recent years 
the quantity has been much reduced, and on the occasion of the 
writer's last visit to New Bedford (October, 1901) not a single barrel 
of oil was on the wharves. 

The oil is of two principal kinds, viz, sperm oil and whale oil, the 
former being obtained from sperm whales and the latter from all other 
varieties of whales and also from walrus, black-fish, sea-elephant, etc. 
It ranges in color from clear amber to very dark brown, depending on 
the variety of animal, the condition of the blubber, and the success 
of the rendering. The quality is determined by appearance, odor, and 
flavor. There is some difference in the value of crude oil of the same 
species of whale from Northern and from Southern seas, the former 
selling for a few cents more per gallon. Crude sperm oil was formerly 
worth about double the value of whale oil, but in recent years the dif- 
ference has been much less. Little use is made of unrefined sperm 
oil, but considerable of the product of whale oil is sold in a crude 
state to steel-workers, miners, and cordage-manufacturers. 

The products from refining sperm oil are the " winter sperm," which 
is the first running from the crude oil after it has been granulated by 
refrigeration; the " spring sperm " ; the "taut-pressed," and sperma- 
ceti. The refined sperm oils are not generally sold in their natural 
color, however, but are usually bleached by a process which leaves 



200 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

" sperm-oil soap " as a product. The products of whale oil, including 
that of walrus, black-fish, sea-elephant, etc., are the winter, spring, 
and summer pressings, a tallow-like substance known as whale foots, 
and "oil soap." 

Sperm oil. — The two varieties of oil obtained from sperm whales, 
viz, body oil and head matter, differ greatly in appearance. The 
former is of a light straw color, while the latter when first taken from 
the head of the whale is as clear and limpid as water, but after a short 
time thickens and hardens into a white mass. Each animal is sup- 
posed to yield about two-thirds bod} T oil and one-third head matter. 
These are kept separate on shipboard, but when received at the refin- 
eries they are generally mixed in natural proportions and together sub- 
mitted to the processes for separating the oil and spermaceti. 

In the process of refining, the crude oil is drawn from the casks and 
heated for the purpose of driving off all the water. This is conven- 
iently done by running it into large iron tanks of several hundred, or 
even thousand, gallons capacity, where it is subjected to heat by means 
of coils of steam-pipes running around the inside of the tanks. When 
heated in excess of 212° F. all moisture is soon expelled, and the oil 
resists water; that is, water will refuse to mix with it and Avill "snap" 
when dropped into the oil. By continuing the heating from six to ten 
hours the crude oil is converted into a clear liquid state, all particles 
of fat and blubber boiling out and the impurities settling at the 
bottom of the tank. The steam is then shut off and, after the oil has 
partly cooled, it is drawn off from the top of the tank into barrels or 
casks with capacity of about 50 gallons each. The sediment which 
precipitates at the bottom is drawn off and made into soap. 

In the barrels the oil is chilled. In cold weather, from December 1 
to March 31, this is done by exposing the barrels and their contents 
to the weather; but during the balance of the year it is necessary to 
place them in large covered pits, where the oil is frozen by using ice 
and salt packed among the barrels. To avoid the expense of artifi- 
cial refrigeration, it is preferable to do the refining during the winter 
season. 

After remaining in the pit from ten to fourteen days, at a tempera- 
ture of about 32° F., the oil is thoroughly chilled, shrinks, and sepa- 
rates or granulates into little balls or grains. It is then removed from 
the refrigerator, shoveled from the barrels into canvas or hempen bags 
holding from 2 to 4 gallons each, and placed in a press, where it is sub- 
jected to a pressure of from one to two thousand pounds to the square 
inch. There is thus pressed out a clear, cold oil known to the refiners as 
"winter sperm oil," which will stand bright or will not congeal at a 
low temperature fixed as a standard. Formerly the standard was 
32° F., but at present the usual commercial test is 38° F. Oil of 23° 
F. test has been prepared, but there was no demand for it. Since the 
lower the temperature at which the congealed oil is pressed the less 
the quantity yielded, it is not desirable to use any lower temper- 



Report U. S. F. C. 1902. 



Plate 14. 




GRINDING AND PRESSING CRUDE SPERMACETI FOR REMOVAL OF TAUT-PRESSED OIL. 




INTERIOR VIEW OF OIL REFINERY. FILLING BOTTLES WITH SPERM OIL. 



AQUATIC PRODUCTS IN ARTS AND INDUSTRIES. 201 

ature than required. When producing oil of 38° F. test, the amount 
of "winter sperm oil" yielded is about 75 percent of the original 
quantity. In former times when a 32° F. test was used, the " winter 
sperm oil *' was about 67 per cent of the original bulk. This may be 
sold either in its natural state or bleached. It is used principally as 
a lubricant, and, to a less extent, as an illuminant in mines. 

After the "winter sperm oil" has been pressed from the bags there 
remains in them a solid of a brownish color, which is again submitted 
to pressure at a warmer temperature, say 50° to 60° F., and there is 
produced an oil known as "spring sperm oil," which congeals at the 
test of 50° to 60° F. above noted. The quantity of "spring sperm 
oil" is about 9 per cent of the original quantity of crude oil. 

The solid now remaining in the bags is emptied into receptacles and, 
after remaining for several days at a summer temperature, is dumped 
out in the form of solid cheese-like cakes. These are stored where 
the temperature is kept at about 80° F. and in the course of a week 
or so are shaved up by revolving knives and again bagged and sub- 
jected to a pressure of about 100,000 pounds to the square inch. This 
yields a third grade of oil called "taut-pressed oil," which will chill 
at a temperature of 90° to 95° F. The quantity of oil of this grade is 
about 5 per cent of the original bulk, making a total of 89 per cent 
of re fined oil obtained. The residue in the bags after the extraction 
of "taut-pressed oil" is crude spermaceti of a brown color, which will 
melt at a temperature of 110° to 115° F. The methods of refining 
spermaceti are set forth on page 245. 

As refined at the present time, sperm oil, including both body oil 
and head matter, yields about 11 per cent of crude spermaceti and 89 
per cent of refined oils, in the following proportions : 75 per cent of 
"winter sperm," 9 per cent "spring sperm," and 5 per cent "taut- 
pressed oil." A barrel of crude sperm oil of 314 gallons, weighing 231 
pounds, jaelds 25 pounds of refined spermaceti, 23.6 gallons of " win- 
ter sperm," 2.8 gallons of "spring sperm," and 1.5 gallons of "taut- 
pressed oil." The prices of these (Januaiy, 1902) are: Spermaceti, 
23 to 24 cents per pound; winter sperm, 75 to 77 cents per gallon; 
spring sperm, 60 to 61 cents; taut-pressed, 50 to 53 cents, and sperm 
soap 3 cents per pound; a total of about 124.50 resulting from one 
barrel of crude oil. 

Sperm oil is one of the most characteristic and valuable oils in com- 
merce. It is very generally conceded to be the best lubricator in 
existence for light, rapid machinery, such as the spindles of cotton and 
woolen mills, its viscousness, tenacity, and high flash-point causing 
it to work with great uniformity and with a small amount of friction. 
But there are many cheap substitutes — made from petroleum princi- 
pally — which, though not so good, answer the purpose nearly as well; 
consequently the demand for sperm oil is far less than formerly, 
and even much of that sold as sperm contains a large admixture of 
hvdrocarbon and other oils. 



202 EEPOET OF 0OMMISSIONEB OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

WTiale oil. — The color of whale oil depends on the "age" of the 
blubber, or the time that elapses between the death of the whale and 
the brying-oul of the oil. CTsually it is brown, much darker than 
sperm oil, with a slightly disagreeable odor. In a crude state it is 
used to some extent by serew-eul t ers, steel-temperers, cordage-manu- 
facturers, and as an illuminant for miners' lamps, but more than half 
is refined in a manner similar to the treatment of sperm oil. The first 
boiling and freezing processes are the same as with sperm oil. When 
removed from the refrigerator the congealed mass is usually dumped 
on woolen strainers, -2 feet wide and from 10 to 20 feet in length, 
stretched across frames. The process of straining is employed to 
reduce the bulk, since much oil will pass through the woolen cloth 
and leave a Less quantity to be pressed. The thick part remaining on 
the strainers is placed in bags, as in case of sperm oil, and subjected 
to great pressure. The first oil from the press congeals at 30° to 40° 
F. and is called ''winter whale oil." The foots or stearin that remains 
in the bags, averaging one-tenth of the original bulk, and about the 
consistency of leaf lard, is usually white and clean. This may be 
reheated and refrigerated, and upon a second pressing yields " spring 
whale oil" of a higher degree test; but this is not frequently done. 

The oil with the foots removed maybe sold in its natural color or it 
may be bleached. One-eighth of the whale oil and probably half of 
the sperm oil is bleached by the refiners. In this process it is first 
placed in the refining tanks and heated. When partially cooled the 
water and sediment are drawn off from the bottom of the tank, and 
while the oil is agitated or stirred some soda ash or caustic soda is 
added. This so acts on the oil as to cut the gum, and the thick part 
settles to the bottom, leaving the oil clearer and of a lighter color. It 
is also accomplished by exposing the oil under a glass roof to the sun- 
light for a few hours, or even days, in large shallow vats or pans from 
3 to 12 inches deep, each with capacity for several hundred gallons. 

The refuse in the bottom of the tanks is drawn off and boiled down 
i u1 o oi 1 soap, which is worth about 3 cents per pound. The first bleach- 
ing will give about 2 per cent in hard soap, the second and third each 
give about the same. If the oil is clear and sweet the first bleaching 
is sufficient. Much of the oil soap is shipped to California, Florida, 
and other fruit-growing sections, where it is employed as a wash for 
trees to protect them from the ravages of insects. It is also used to 
some extent in fur-dressing. 

In the usual pressings, the oil of the right whale taken in high 
northern Latitudes gives about S per cent of foots or stearin; if taken 
in the vicinity of the equator, or south of it, about 15 per cent of 
stearin is yielded. Humpback and finback oils yield about 12 per 
cent of foots; sea-elephant yields 5 or 6 per cent; menhaden from 5 
to 10 per cent; and seal oil yields only 3 or 4 per cent in the customary 
pressings. Of course this varies according to the temperature at 
which the oil is pressed. Tallow regulates the price, in a measure, as 



AQUATIC PRODUCTS IN ARTS AND INDUSTRIES. 



203 



the stearin is substituted to quite an extent for that article. The 
market price approximates 5 cents per pound. It ma} 7 be refined in 
a manner similar to spermaceti, though it is generally sold in the 
crude shape, packed in barrels. The chemical constituents are mainly 
glycerides of stearic and palmitic acids, mixed with oil. It is used 
principally as a sizing for yarns, smaller quantities being used in 
Europe for smearing sheep after shearing. Other uses are in making 
soaps and in filling or stuffing leather. 

The various whale oils are hard and strong, and range in specific 
gravity from 0. 900 to 0. 927 at 59° F. Oil of the right whale has specific 
gravity of 0.925 to 0.927 at 59° F. Oil from the humpback and like- 
wise from the sulphur-bottom whale is somewhat lighter in weight, 
the specific gravity varying between 0.915 and 0.920 at 59° F. Ac- 
cording to Brannt, the composition of right whale oil is carbon 76.85 
per cent, hydrogen 11.80 per cent, and oxygen 11.35 per cent; while 
that of humpback and sulphur-bottom whales is carbon 77.05 per 
cent, hydrogen 12.05 per cent, and oxygen 10.90 per cent. Refined 
whale oil is extensively used in machine shops to reduce friction, 
particularly in cutting bolts and screws. It is also used as stuffing in 
leather-dressing, especially in the manufacture of chamois leather. 

The following summary, compiled from the trade journals, shows the 
range of prices per gallon for crude sperm oil and for whale oil during 
a series of years ending in 1901 : 

Statement of the maximum and minimum prices per gallon of sperm and of whale 
oil each year from, 1868 to 1902, inclusive. 



Year. 


Sperm oil, per 
gallon. 


Whale oil, per 
gallon. 


Year. 


Sperm oil, per 
gallon. 


Whale oil, per 
gallon. 


1868 


$1.75 to $2.00 

1.59 1.93 

1.22 1.55 

1.22 1.57 

1.35 1.63 

1.40 1.55 

1.50 1.66 

1.48 1.84 

1.27 1.62 

1.03 1.40 

.81 1.05 

.71 1.00 

.80 1.08 

.87 1.05 

1.05 1.15 

1.08 1.15 

.87 1.05 

.a5 1.00 


$0.64 to $1.13 
. 84 1. 13 
.63 .75 
.54 .84 
.62 .73 
.52 .68 
.57 .63 
.62 .70 
.55 .70 
.50 .70 
.35 .52 
.35 .57 
.45 .57 
.50 .59 
.57 .60 
.56 .60 
.55 .63 
.43 .55 


1886 


$0.67 to $0.85 
.57 .65 
.55 .62 
.62 .68 
.58 .65 
.63 .68 
.63 .65 
.62 .90 
.56 .62 
.50 .56 
.35 .45 
.36 .49 
.38 .57 
.40 .61 
.45 .60 
.55 .68 
.62 .70 


$0. 36 to $0. 48 


1869 


1887.. 

1888 

1889 


. a5 . 36 


18711 


.37 .40 


1871.. 


.40 .42 


1872 


1890. 


.42 .50 


1873 

1874 


1891 

1892 

1893 


.50 .54 
.50 .53 


1875 


.40 .48 


1876... 


1894 . . . 


.38 .43 


1877 

1878 


1895 

1896 


.36 .40 
. 30 . 35 


1879 

1880 


1897 

1898 

1899 

1900 

1901 


.32 .38 
.31 .39 


1881.. 


.32 .40 


1882._ 


.33 .37 
.34 .38 


1884 


1902 


. 34 . 38 


1885 











In the early years of the whale fishery nearly all the sperm oil pro- 
duced in the United States fisheries was exported in a crude condition, 
and during the period of greatest prosperity in the fisheiy about one- 
half was exported, but at present the exports in a crude state are very 
small. For the first time in a hundred years none whatever was 
exported in 1901. Most of it is refined at New Bedford, and some of 
the refined oil and a large percentage of. the spermaceti are exported. 
Of the whale oil the greater part is consumed in this country. 



204 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

The annual product of sperm and whale oils, quantities exported, 
and quantities consumed in this country, arc shown in the following; 

Table showing, in barrels of Sl\ gallons each, the production of sperm and whale 
oils by the whaling fleet of the United States, the export to foreign countries, and 
the home consumption from 1860 to 1901. 

[Compiled from the Whaleman's Shipping List.] 



Year. 



1800 
1801 
1868 
1863 

1804 
1865 
1866 
1867 
1868 
1869 
1870 
1871 
187:.' 
1873 
1874 
1875 
1876 
1877 
1878 
1879 
1880 
1881 
1882 
1883 
1884 
188.") 
1886 
1887 
1888 
1889 

18(H) 

1891 
1892 

1893 
1894 
1895 
1896 

1897 

1898 

1899 

19(H) 
19()1 
1902 



Sperm oil. 



Whale oil. 



Produc- 
tion. 



Barr 

73, 
68, 
55, 
65, 
64, 
33, 
36, 
43. 
47, 
47, 
55, 
41, 
45, 
42. 



42,617 



Export. 



Barrels. 

32, 792 
37.547 
27,976 
L8.366 
15,000 
20, 158 
10,030 
25.147 
18,916 
18,645 
22,773 
22, 156 
24,344 
16,238 
18,675 
22, so- 
23, 600 
18,047 
32, 769 
11,843 
12,283 

10.0(H) 

13,006 
13,996 

5,143 
7,554 
3,118 
4, 955 
1,345 
5,823 
2,000 
3.21* 
1,787 
1,165 
1,720 
1,225 
215 
280 
1,952 
550 
1,100 



470 



Home 
con- 
sump- 
tion. 



Produc- 
tion. 



Barrels 
38,507 
31,091 
Br, 759 
32. 527 
30.190 
27, 666 
19. 133 
22,968 
23, 258 
17, 239 
28,812 
33,528 
24,052 
24.190 
21,768 
18,453 
14, 473 
31,737 
11,124 
23,315 
17,750 
25, 275 
13.053 
17.324 
15,481 
18,279 
15,170 
14,953 
21,410 
13,339 
11,015 
14,412 
12,757 
11,088 
7, 764 
15.949 
20,419 
18,02(1 
11,848 
13.095 
17,973 
17,990 
ol8,250 



Barrels. 

140,005 
133,717 
100, 478 
62,974 
71,863 
76,238 
74,302 
89. 289 
05. 575 
85.(111 
72, 691 
75. 152 
31.075 
40,014 
37. 782 
34,594 
33,010 
27.191 
33.778 
23, 334 
34,776 
31,650 
23,371 
24,170 
24,670 
41,586 
27, 249 
34.171 
17,185 
14,2-17 
17.565 
14,837 
13, 382 
8,110 
9,720 
4,009 
4,800 
3,600 
5, 295 
3, 827 
5.510 
2, 930 
4,725 



Export. 



Barrels. 

13,007 

49, 969 

68,583 

11,297 

12,000 

1,660 

618 

18,253 

9,885 

3.812 

9.872 

18,141 

1,528 

2,153 

3,300 

5. 424 

10,300 

0,390 

14,:i7l 

7,374 

4,395 

6,450 

4,421 

4.543 

2,343 

5,384 

18.253 
8,2115 
8.578 

410 
4,366 

608 

291 
1,064 

276 

825 

- 500 

■122 
075 



5(H) 
"400 



Home 



sump- 
tion. 



Hariris. 
1)3. 1 HI'.) 

105,839 

67,2.54 

65,352 

62,528 

64,107 

69,534 

58,836 

72,390 

56,236 

68, 452 

(13,011 

42, 852 

33,88] 

44,357 

31,860 

22,620 

20,501 

12.557 

24, 885 

23,856 

32, (KH) 

21,425 

19,052 

23.777 

50,529 

9,176 

34,780 

7,747 

12,667 

14,549 

13,864 

12,746 

6,721 

8,379 

4,534 

5,050 

.3, 178 

4,450 

3,997 

3,410 

4,530 

M.325 



a On hand Jan. 1, 1903, 3,600 barrels sperm oil. ''There was no whale oil on hand .Jan. 1 , 19013. 



PORPOISE AND BLACK-FISH OILS. 

Among the minor oils of technical importance are those of porpoise 
and black-fish, which are nearly equal in texture and are used for 
similar purposes. These oils are in two grades of widely different 
characteristics, viz, blubber oil and head or jaw oil; the former is 
worth about the same as right-whale oil, or 35 cents per gallon, while 
the latter sells as high as $10 per gallon. They are generally known 
as "porpoise oil" and "porpoise-jaw oil," respectively, although the 
black-fish yields many times as much oil of each grade as the porpoise. 

Porpoise have at times been taken in considerable quantities in 
shore fisheries established primarily for securing the hides for tan- 



AQUATIC PRODUCTS IN ARTS AND INDUSTRIES. 205 

ning purposes. 6,-450 porpoise secured, on the North Carolina coast in 
1887 yielded 10,460 gallons of body oil; 2,283 porpoise in 1889 yielded 
3,897 gallons, and 1,747 in 1890 furnished 2,746 gallons. 

This oil is pale yellow to brown in color, and has a slight fishy 
odor, which disappears on exposure to air. The specific gravity, 
according to Brannt, is 0.918 at 59° F., and it congeals at about 3° F. 
When fresh it is indifferent to litmus paper, but absorbs acid proper- 
ties from the air. It is used for tanning purposes and in compound- 
ing with mineral lubricating oils. 

The sperm-whalers of the Atlantic occasionally harpoon Hatteras 
porpoise from the bow of the vessel and lift them aboard for food pur- 
poses. In many cases the blubber of these is removed and tried-out 
for oil. This blubber is of a yellowish white or pearl color, varies in 
thickness from £ to l-£ inches, and is of about the same texture as that 
of the beluga or white whale. It is cut in longitudinal strips 4 or 5 
inches wide, minced, and placed in the try-pots with other blubber. 
The yield of oil is usually less than 2 gallons to each animal, conse- 
quently the whalers do not often render it. 

From the jaw-pans of porpoise taken more particularly for food, the 
whalers obtain the highly renowned "porpoise-jaw oil," which is used 
for fine lubricating purposes. The lower jaw is removed from the 
head, the pans extracted therefrom with a knife, minced, and placed 
in a small tin, such as a meat-can, and placed on the stove to simmer 
or boil gently. The quantity of oil obtained from each jaw is very 
small, probably about one-half pint, and the total quantity secured 
by the whaling fleet of New Bedford probably does not exceed 5 or 6 
gallons annually, the market price of which is upward of $6 or $8 
per gallon. 

Some years ago the Passamaquoddy Indians on the Maine coast cap- 
tured numbers of porpoise. Indeed, at one time that fishery furnished 
their principal means of support. As the animals were taken mostly 
during the winter and inshore, where food is abundant, they were 
very fat. The largest individuals measure about 7 feet in length and 
5 feet in girth, weighing 300 pounds or more. The blubber of a large 
porpoise is from 1 to 2 inches thick and weighs 75 pounds and upward, 
yielding 5 or 6 gallons of oil, but the average for all taken was only 2 
or 3 gallons. In the primitive method employed by the Indians, the 
blubber is stripped off and cut into small pieces, which are placed in 
a large pot. Inside a semicircle of large stones a fire is made, and 
when the stones are hot the fire is scattered and the pot containing 
the fat suspended over the stones and sufficient fire kept up to insure 
the melting of the blubber. The oil rising to the surface is skimmed 
off and placed in suitable receptacles. This oil, when pure, formerly 
sold for 60 to 80 cents per gallon, but was frequently adulterated with 
seal oil and sold at less price. It gives an excellent light, and also is 
good for lubricating machinery, as it is free from sticky characteristics 
and has quite a low weather-test. The superior oil in the jaw-pans is 



206 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF EISH AND FISHERIES. 

also extracted by hanging the jaws in the warm sunlight and permit- 
ting the oil to drip into cans placed underneath to receive it. About 
half a pint of this oil maybe secured from each porpoise; it is sold at 
a very high price lor Lubricating watches, clocks, and the like. Very 
few of the Passamaqnoddy Indians arc now left, and these few have 
alniosi entirely abandoned " porpusin" for other occupations. 

The " black-fish" {(ilohiocephahis mdas) occurs in many parts of the 
Atlantic < >cean. Individuals vary in length from 8 to 22 feet. They are 
capl nied by the sperm-whalers, and also at irregular intervals they are 
secured when stranded on the shore, especially in Cape Cod Bay, 
where they have gone in pursuit of food, the fishermen getting to the 
seaward of them and drivingthem ashore. They are likewise secured 
on the rocky coast of Scotland and other parts of northern Europe. 

According to ('apt. James Avery, of New Bedford, the sperm-whalers 
take them at all seasons of the year and throughout the Atlantic, but 
probably in greatest abundance on the west coast of Africa in 20° W. 
longitude, and 6° to 10° 1ST. latitude. The number caught annually 
has greatly decreased in the last fifteen or twenty years. In 1881 the 
Eh a nor />. ConweU caught 196, probably the greatest number taken 
in any one year by a single vessel. During the last three or four years 
the entiie whaling fleet probably has not captured more than 20 or 
25 annually, yielding about 800 gallons of body oil and 50 gallons of 
head oil, the former worth $280 and the latter $350 at fisherman's 
prices. 

The black-fish are captured in much the same manner as very small 
sperm whales, and for cutting-in they are hove up on deck by means 
of lifting tackle. The blubber is nearly white, from 1 to 5 inches 
thick, and is removed from the carcass in longitudinal strips 8 or 10 
inches wide. These strips are cut in horse-pieces and minced in the 
same manner as ah-eady described for whale blubber, the blood being 
washed off the fat by dashing buckets of water over it. The minced 
blubber is then placed in the try-pots and cooked, and subsequently 
treated precisely as that of the right whale. The product of oil ranges 
from 5 to 120 gallons from each individual, averaging probably about 
35 or 40 gallons. This is sometimes mixed with whale oil, although it 
has a greater value, selling usually for several cents per gallon more 
than that of the right whale. 

The head oil of the black-fish is taken from the melon or junk and 
the jaw-pans. The melon is a fatty mass on the top of the head, 
reaching from the spout hole to the end of the nose, and weighs about 
25 pounds. This is washed free from blood, minced, and placed in 
the try-pot. The lower jaw is cut off, the jaw-pans cut out with a 
knife, minced, washed, and placed with the cleaned jaws and the melon 
in the try-pot. Some whalers cook the melon and the jaw materials 
separately, but the above is the usual method. 

It is customary to cook the head matter of black-fish in fresh water. 
About 15 gallons of fresh water is placed in the pot, the fat is then 



AQUATIC PRODUCTS IN ARTS AND INDUSTRIES. 207 

added, and the whole brought to a gentle boil by means of a slight 
fire. At this point a little overheating will effect great injury. When 
the cooking is completed the pot is allowed to cool and the follow- 
ing morning the oil is skimmed off. The product of head oil from 
individual black-fish ranges from three-fourths of a gallon to 3 gallons, 
averaging probably about 2 gallons. At ordinary temperatures the 
blubber oil and the head oil of black-fish are much alike in their 
appearance, thus furnishing great temptation to the fishermen to mix 
a little of the cheap product with that of greater value, resulting in 
much vexation and loss to the refiner, as it is only in the process of 
refinement that the adulteration is revealed. 

In addition to the black-fish secured by the sperm-whalers, large 
numbers have been captured on the shores of Cape Cod, where 
they are attracted by squid on which they feed. The animals are 
surrounded by boats and driven like cattle to the beaches, and are 
there stranded in endeavoring to escape. They are lanced to death 
and when the tide falls the blubber and the oil-producing head 
matter are stripped off and conveyed to try-works on the shore, where 
the oil is extracted in much the same manner as already described for 
the vessel fishery. 

The greatest catch of black-fish on Cape Cod was made in 1884. 
On November 17 of that year 1,500 were killed at Blackfish Creek, 
South Wellfleet, where they had been driven ashore. About a month 
later 500 more were slain in a great round-up in the bay. Since that 
time very few have been secured in the bay, nor have they been seen 
at sea in any such numbers as previous to the slaughter above noted. 

The oil from the blubber of porpoise and of black-fish is refined in 
precisely the same manner as whale oil, but the process of treatment 
applied to the head oils is far more complicated. These are very lim- 
pid, of an unusually low weather-test, and have little corrosive effect 
on metallic surfaces, making them when refined superior for lubricat- 
ing such delicate mechanisms as watches, chronometers, typewriters, 
etc. Practically all of these oils secured in the American fisheries 
are refined at New Bedford and Provincetown, Mass., there being two 
refiners at the former place and one at the latter. We are indebted 
principally to Mr. William F. Nye and to Mr. Joseph K. Nye, of New 
Bedford, for the subjoined notes relative to the methods of refining. 

In the preparation of watch and chronometer oils much depends 
upon the freshness of the fat at the time the oil is rendered and the 
freedom of the material from adulterants. Fresh substance pro- 
duces much better oil than that which has partly decomposed, the 
product being sweeter and less rancid. No choice seems to exist 
between the porpoise-jaw oil and the black-fish-head oil, both pro- 
ducing refined articles of equal merit; but that of the black-fish 
seems to be the favorite by a slight margin among the refiners, owing 
to its having more body, and possibly also to its greater abundance. 
A peculiarity of these oils is that they improve with age, differing in 



208 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

this particular from blubber oils. This is accounted for bythealter- 
nate gathering and emission of moisture upon exposure to ehanges 
of temperature, and by this and other treatment they become clear 
and brilliant, in consequence of which they are seldom used within 
less fehan a year or two after they are obtained. 

On receipt of the oil at the factory the first step in the process of 
refining is to gently heat it to complete the process of cooking begun 
by the fishermen. The oil is then placed in tanks or casks to await 
the process of grading, and often two years may elapse ere the trained 
and skillful eye of the refiner can determine to what class it belongs. 
It is almost impossible to describe the extremely delicate variations 
in color, texture, odor, and flavor which enter into this grading. The 
claim is made that there are not half a dozen men in the w T orld who 
have had the training and experience necessary to separate these deli- 
cate oils into their proper classes, and yet a very large part of the 
reliability of watch and chronometer lubricants lies in the gradation 
under the almost instinctive skill of the refiner. 

According to Mr. Joseph K. Nye: 

After two years or more of rest, the oil has got to a condition where its surplus 
oxygens have united with whatever animal or loose organic matter may have 
been floating in microscopic particles within it, and they are easily removed by 
tlie ordinary strainers of an oil factory. But something is still left in the oil 
which is very sensible to the high or low range of temperature, and to remove 
this requires its subjection, while spread out in thin layers, to a temperature far 
below zero. No further change in its construction can be made except at this 
very low temperature, nor must it be cooled too rapidly. "When properly done 
the process is one most interesting to watch. All through its liquid amber little 
flecks of translucent material appear, joining and rejoining like frost on a win- 
dow pane into most beautiful forms, resembling a miniature forest whose foliage 
is white. By means of a certain fine and close-grained fabric these particles at 
this juncture are filtered out: and strange to say, this residuum, once a portion 
of a brilliant, almost colorless fluid, never even at normal temperature becomes 
anything but a slimy mass, resembling poor lard. 

In order to get this low temperature, one of the New Bedford refin- 
ers has established a chilling plant at St. Albans, Vt., Avhere long- 
continued cold can be depended upon. 

To be thoroughly satisfactory the refined oil must be of uniform 
quality, entirely devoid of acidulous properties, absolutely gumless, 
withstand the rigors of the coldest climate without congealing, and 
maintain its body or stability in a high temperature. This is the 
most delicate and highly refined lubricant known, and some has been 
produced for which a temperature of —50° F. has been claimed. While 
all watch-oil users do not prefer colorless fluid, the average customer 
demands an oil almost if not absolutely colorless and of crystal 
clearness. Much of the product is sold for repairers' use in wooden 
boxes containing 1 dozen half-ounce bottles, each bottle inclosed in 
a small pasteboard box. The remainder, in tin cans having capacity 
for 1 pint, 1 quart, or of larger capacity, goes to the manufacturers 
of watches, clocks, chronometers, typewriters, etc. 



Report U. S. F. C. 1902. 



Plate 15. 




AQUATIC PRODUCTS IN ARTS AND INDUSTRIES. 209 

OILS FROM SEALS, WALRUS, ETC. 

The blubber or fat lying between the skin and the muscular tissues 
of the various members of the Pinniped ia yields oil of much impor- 
tance for technical purposes. The principal varieties on the market 
are from the common seals or hair-seals of the North Atlantic, the 
walrus, the sea-elephant, and the sea-lions. Each of these will be 
discussed separately. 

SEAL OILS. 

Seals are found in various northern waters and especially off the 
coast of Labrador and Newfoundland, in the waters of Greenland, 
the Arctic Ocean north of Europe, in Caspian Sea, along- the Nova 
Scotian and New England coasts, in the Northern Pacific, and to a 
much less extent in the Antarctic seas. The principal fisheries are 
in the Arctic and North Atlantic oceans, especially off the coasts of 
Newfoundland, Greenland, and Northern Europe. The Caspian Sea 
also affords an important seal fishery. 

The blubber of seals ranges in thickness from 1 to 3 inches, accord- 
ing to the species, age, and condition of the animals. It is removed 
from the pelts usually as soon as the latter are landed. If the weather 
is warm, considerable oil of prime quality flows from the blubber dur- 
ing the process of separating it from the pelt, and provision is made 
for this free oil to flow into suitable receptacles. 

The oil may be at once extracted, or the blubber may be stored for 
a more convenient season, especially if the weather be cold, as i1 is 
much easier to extract the oil during warm weather. If the blubber 
is stored, it should be in well-ventilated apartments, so arranged that 
the oil forced out by compression and warmth may run into suitable 
reservoirs. In the best-arranged storage rooms the reservoirs are 
oak-wood casks, lined with lead in some instances, with capacity for 
a thousand or more gallons. These are placed at intervals in the 
floor, which is so inclined as to cause the oil to flow into the receptacle. 
The oil which flows under these circumstances is usually clear, sweet, 
and of prime quality. 

There are several methods of extracting the bulk of the oil from the 
blubber, the one adopted depending to some extent on the proposed 
use of the product and also on the amount of capital available for 
equipment and the quantity of blubber to be handled. The methods 
may be divided into three principal classes, viz, (1) by maceration 
exposed to solar heat, (2) by cooking in open kettles, and (3) by the 
application of steam. 

The simplest method of extracting the oil is by exposing the minced 
blubber in a mass to the weather. The blubber is heaped up in large 
tanks and — when the temperature is suitable — clear, pale oil flows from 
the mass. As putrefaction advances and the cellular texture is de- 
stroyed, the mass yields oil of a reddish yellow and then a dark brown 
color, with somewhat disagreeable odor and flavor, owing to the 

F. C. 1902 14 



210 REPOBT OF COMMI88IONEB OF PISH AND FISHERIES. 

decomposition products evolved. When the oil ceases to flow, usually 
at the end of two or three months, Hie mass of fat is boiled in water 
with the Meshy or fat-lean portions. During this boiling the oil rises 
to the surface and is skimmed off. The residue is evaporated by 
pressure and drying, and is used for fertilizer. This was formerly 
the usual method employed in rendering seal oil in Newfoundland, 
but during the Las1 twenty-five or thirty years the steam process has 
been generally adopted. 

In 1 renting a small quantity of blubber for extraction of the oil it 
is usually more convenient to mince it lineby and eook it in a kettle 
over a fire. The oil rises to the surface and is skimmed off and placed 
in casks or other suitable receptacles. This is the method commonly 
employed by the shore hunters whose catch is small. 

At the Large sealing ports, as St. Johns, Tonsberg, Dundee, Astra- 
khan, etc. the oil is usually rendered by means of steam. The 
minced blubber is exposed to the action of steam in large inclosed 
tanks. The oil flowing therefrom passes through pipes into large 
reservoirs, of which there are usually three or more, the overflow from 
the first passing into the second, and the overflow from the second 
into the third. This furnishes the first quality of steam-refined oil. 
By pressing the steamed blubber, a second quality of dark-brown oil 
is obtained. 

The steam process of rendering has the advantage of rapidity in 
operation, also the oil is free from disagreeable odor and is of superior 
burning qualities. However, for use in mines the sun-extracted oil 
is preferred, especially that of young seals, owing to its greater freedom 
from smoke, the odor being of little consequence to miners. Accord- 
ing to Mr. Carrol," oil -from old seals is more smokj T than that from 
young ones; it is also of greater specific gravity, and when the blubber 
of both are rendered together, the young seal oil comes out first. 

Although the catch of seals in the Newfoundland fishery in 1901 
was almost as large as in 1900, being 345,380 in 1901, as compared 
with 353,270 in 1900, the yield of oil was about 120,000 gallons less, 
representing a difference in value of about $50,000. This was princi- 
pally because the average weight of the seals was small, owing to the 
fact that in 1901 the seals whelped some days later than in 1900, and 
furthermore, they were taken two or three days earlier than usual, 
the absence of pack ice enabling the vessels to reach them promptly 
after leaving harbor. In 1900 the average weight of the seal pelts 
was about 40 pounds, whereas in 1901 it was but 38 pounds. The 
young seals gain daily two or three pounds in weight of blubber, and 
if the vessels had been three or four days later in reaching the herds, 
the yield of oil in the Newfoundland fishery in 1901 would probably 
have been approximately the same as in 1900. 

The decadence of the seal-oil industry, especially in the waters 
north of Europe, has been gradual but certain, owing to the introduc- 

" The .seal and herring fisheries of Newfoundland, by Michael Carrol, Montreal, 1873, p. 30. 



AQUATIC PRODUCTS IN ARTS AND INDUSTRIES. 211 

tion and adoption of cheaper substitutes for the relatively high-priced 
seal oil. Every year shows a decrease in the number of vessels 
employed in the fishery, and when a vessel is lost or sold it is rarely 
replaced. Comparatively little seal oil is imported into this country, 
the quantity in some years amounting to less than 1,000 barrels. The 
price in bond approximates 45 cents per gallon. The Newfoundland 
oils are marketed principally in St. Johns, Glasgow, London, and 
Leith; those from the waters north of Europe, at Dundee, Copen- 
hagen, Hamburg, and Archangel, and that from the Caspian seal fish- 
eries at Astrakhan. 

Seal oils vary in specific gravity from 0.915 to 0.930 at 59° F. 
According to Brannt, they are composed principally of glycerides of 
phj^setoleic acid, of palmitic, stearic, and a small quantity of oleic 
acid and traces of butyric acid, valerianic acid, etc. They show a 
slight acid reaction when fresh, the acidity increasing with age. 
Instead of the albuminous substances present in vegetable oils, the 
seal oils contain a small quantity of glue which can be precipitated 
with tannin and metallic salts. The} 7 are very slightly soluble in 
alcohol, and require almost an equal volume for solution in ether. 
Mixtures of equal volumes of nitric and sulphuric acids produce a 
reddish color, quickly changing to brown. The adulteration of seal 
oils is detected principally by the incomplete saponification if resin 
oil be the adulterant, and by the degree of solubility in alcohol if other 
blubber oils are employed. 

In addition to the pure oils there are several well-known compound 
seal oils on the markets, the best known being the "three crowns." 
Greenland "three crowns" is a mixture of several varieties of blub- 
ber oil, chiefly seal oil, or rather seal-oil foots, and small quantities 
of whale and walrus, combined with oil from shark livers, the fluidify 
and low specific gravity of the shark oil imparting the special quali- 
ties to this compound. Swedish " three crowns " oil is a compound 
of various seal oils with herring oil. 

The principal use for seal oil is for burning in miners' lamps, and 
it is also employed in currying and to a very small extent for miscel- 
laneous purposes, especially fiber-dressing. About 2,500 barrels are 
used annually as an illuminant in the light-houses in the British 
North American provinces. Owing to its sluggish nature it is usually 
improved by the addition of mineral colza. An excellent miners' lamp 
oil is said to be composed of seal oil, 40 per cent; whale oil, 25 per 
cent; lardine (0.980), 10 per cent, and mineral colza, 25 per cent. 

SEA-ELEPHANT OIL. 

The sea-elephant or elephant-seal has furnished a large quantity of 
oil to the American markets during the last eighty years. The whalers 
operating in the extreme South Atlantic, and also the fur-sealers sail- 
ing to Falkland, South Georgia, and the coast of Patagonia, secured 
odd lots previous to 1803, but the first vessel specially fitted out for 



212 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

securing this article appears to have been the ship Alliance, which sailed 
from New Bedford in L803 for Patagonia, and returned home in 1804 
with a lull cargo of oil. This was the pioneer of a large number of 
vessels sailing to the Patagonian coast for sea-elephant oil. That 
coast seems to have been abandoned about 1820 for the South Shet- 
land Islands, which I'm 1 seventeen years furnished many cargoes to the 
fur-sealers sailing from Stonington. Since 1837 Desolation or Ker- 
guelen Island has furnished the great bulk of the sea-elephant oil. 
Heard Island has furnished many cargoes since 1857, but on account 
of I lie exposed situation of that island vessels do not usually go there 
when a cargo is obtainable elsewhere. South Georgia, South Shet- 
Lands, and the Patagonian coast also have many sea-elephants and 
are occasionally visited by the hunters, but the great bulk of the 
catch has been obtained at Desolation Island. 

Although the taking of sea-elephant oil originated with the Nan- 
tucket whalers, it has been peculiarly a New London industry since 
1820, the neighboring ports of Stonington and Mystic furnishing a 
number of vessels during certain seasons. From 1820 until the pres- 
ent time 94 per cent of all the voyages have been made by vessels 
from these three ports, and 80 per cent have been made by the New 
London vessels. The fleet was largest in 1858 and 1850, 18 vessels, 
with an aggregate tonnage of 4,527 tons, being employed in 1858, and 
20 vessels, with 4,461 tons measurement, in 1859. 

The last vessel to return with a cargo was the brig Leonora, which 
arrived in 1902 with 2,900 barrels of oil and a quantity of hides. In 
1900 the schooner Robert S. Graham brought in 2,600 barrels of oil 
and 7n hides, the oil selling at 38 cents per gallon and the hides at 
$2 each. In 1898 the bark Swallow, of Boston, returned with 2,000 
barrels of oil, the product of 4,000 sea-elephants secured during the 
three months of the summer of 1897-98. 

According to Capt. James W. Budington, of Groton, Conn.., to whom 
we are indebted for most of the subjoined data relative to methods of 
capture and of oil-rendering, sea-elephant blubber is some what wh iter 
than whale blubber, and ranges in thickness from 1 to 8 inches, accord- 
ing to the size and condition of the individual. It is thickest on the 
males, especially the "March bulls," from the neck of which 10-inch 
blubber has been secured. On the cows the thickness is from 2 to 3 
inches and on the pups it is much less. 

Much variation exists in the yield of oil from sea-elephants. The 
quantity secured from the* March bulls taken shortly after they land 
is very largo, amounting sometimes to 220 gallons from a single indi- 
vidual. Only a small number of this varietj 7 is secured. The Novem- 
ber bulls yield from 100 to 120 gallons each early in the season, but 
after remaining on the shore for months, abstaining from food, they 
become emaciated, and yield scarcely more than 30 gallons. The prod- 
uct from females and pups is much smaller, some of the pups yielding 
only 4 or 5 gallons, especially when the season is well advanced, thus 



AQUATIC PRODUCTS IN ARTS AND INDUSTRIES. 213 

greatly reducing the average take, which probably does not exceed 12 
or 15 gallons to each individual throughout the season. The cargo of 
2,000 barrels secured by the bark Swallow in 1898 represented an 
average yield of 15.75 gallons per individual. Another cargo of 600 
barrels, secured late in the season when the animals were in poor 
condition, represented the capture of 2,000 individuals. 

The hunters endeavor to arrive at the islands as soon as the sea- 
elephants come ashore, usually the early part of November. The ani- 
mals are found in herds or pods varying in number from 20 to 300 or 
more each, the favorite resort apparently being the numerous mud 
puddles. The largest and fattest are selected for killing, females and 
pups being unmolested if a sufficient number of large bulls is obtain- 
able. The bulls are sometimes of enormous size, frequently 10 feet 
or more in length and 12 feet in circumference. The females are very 
much smaller, probably one-third the size of. the bulls, but generally 
they are fatter for their size and their blubber is somewhat more yel- 
lowish. A number of seals of various species, especially the leopard- 
seal, are frequently met with and are driven out and slaughtered 
when sea-elephants are scarce; otherwise they are not molested, as 
they are not nearly so fat as the sea-elephants. Rifles and lances 
are the weapons commonly employed in the slaughter. 

After killing a sufficient number the skin is roughly and quickly 
gotten out of the way and the blubber taken off in horse-pieces of 
suitable size for handling, say about 18 inches wide and 2 feet long, 
or less, this varying according to the thickness. The horse-pieces are 
strung on a pole and carried down to the shore, 15 or 20 making a 
good load for two men. At the shore the pieces are strung on raft- 
tails or ropes, 18 or 20 feet long, and towed to the ship. The long 
immersion in the water soaks off the sand and blood and cleanses the 
blubber. 

The oil is extracted in much the same manner as in the whale fish- 
ery. The blubber is lifted on deck, cut into strips about 2 inches 
wide, and these are minced or partly cut through at intervals of 
about 1 inch and placed in try-pots, precisely as in the case of whale 
blubber. The cooking is only slight, much less than applied to the 
whale blubber, being continued for only about 15 minutes. The fuel 
consists of the dry scrap, supplemented with wood procured on the 
islands. After cooking for about 10 or 15 minutes and dipping off 
all the oil on the surface, the scrap is placed in a receptacle and 
subjected to considerable pressure, in the manner customary in the 
right-whale fishery already described. The oil does not run as freely 
from the blubber as whale oil ; especially is this the case with the 
fat of the pups, which is fine-grained and ' ' milky. " Occasionally 
the oil is tried out on shore in a manner similar to that aboard the 
vessel, the try- works being erected near a running stream wherein 
the blubber may be washed free from sand and blood. 

The product from all the southern islands from 1803 to 1900, 



214 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

inclusive, amounted to upward of 242,000 ban-els, or 7,643,000 
gallons, worth $5,420,000, apportioned as follows: 



I (fcado ending 
June 30— 


Barrels. 


Decade ending 
June 80 


Barrels. 


1810 

1820.. 

L830-. 

L840 

L850.. 


2,600 

9,000 

9,500 

23,000 

38,000 


1860 

L870 

L880 

L890 


62, 754 

48,783 

34,015 

8, 150 

6,300 


HMMl 



This oil is classed as whale oil and has been included in the product 
of that article, as shown on page 204, although it is usually sold Cor 
'J or 1 cents per gallon more than the latter. The process of refine- 
ment is precisely the same as in case of whale oil, the foots yielded 
amounting to 5 or G per cent of the original bulk. Its principal use 
has been in the dressing of morocco leather. 

WALRUS OIL. 

When the whalers entered the North Pacific, walrus were found in 
great numbers, but were not disturbed, owing to the abundance of 
cetaceans. At times when whales were not to be found and many 
walrus were met with, a number of these were killed and the blubber 
tried-out, and this practice extended with the increasing scarcity of 
whales. About 1863 the northern whalers began to make a business of 
taking walrus during the first part of each season, some vessels securing 
upward of 500 barrels. Mr. A. Howard Clarke estimated that, during 
the eleven years ending in 1880, 1,996,000 gallons of walrus oil were 
secured by the whaling fleet in the North Pacific, the value of which 
was about $l,000,000. a The hunt was carried on with much waste. 
It is stated that on one occasion 1,600 walrus were killed on a sand 
bar in one day, and the whole number were washed into the sea by an 
unusually high tide and thus lost. Since 1880 the quantity secured 
has decreased, and at the present time not more than 100 walrus are 
obtained annually by the entire North Pacific fleet, representing an 
oil product of less than 2,000 gallons. 

The blubber of walrus averages 2 or 3 inches in thickness, and 
usually it is is not detached from the skin until after the removal of 
the latter from the carcass. In case the hide is to be saved for tanning, 
the pelt is placed on a flensing board or platform, skin-side down, and 
the blubber is cut off in irregularly shaped horse-pieces of 10 or 15 
pounds' weight each. During the height of the Pacific walrus fishery 
the hides were not used, and then the skin and blubber were removed 
from the animal in horse-pieces of convenient size, say about 10 by 
14 inches, and these were separated aboard the vessel. 

The horse-pieces are next prepared for the try-pots. They are placed 
on the mincing-horse and scored or minced precisely in the manner 
described in the treatment of whale blubber. The cooking must be 

a The Fishery Industries of the United States, Sec. V, Vol n, p. 318. 



AQUATIC PRODUCTS IN ARTS AND INDUSTRIES. 215 

slow, the pot being well spaded during the boiling to prevent the 
blubber from sticking and burning to the bottom or side. 

The individual yield of oil varies considerably, walrus being much 
fatter in some years than in others. But in general it is small in pro- 
portion to the size of the animal, an individual weighing 1,500 pounds 
yielding only as much blubber as a seal of 600 pounds. An old bull 
weighing 2,500 pounds might yield 000 pounds of blubber, but it is 
seldom more than 450 pounds, and the average for the entire catch is 
probably not in excess of 200 pounds. Nor is the blubber as rich in 
oil as is that of the seal, 100 pounds of walrus fat yielding an average 
of 10 gallons of oil, whereas an equal weight of seal blubber yields 
about 11£ gallons. In 1869 the ship Progress secured 565 barrels of 
oil from 700 walrus, an average of 25.4-2 gallons each. This was con- 
sidered an extra good yield. One thousand walrus secured by the 
ship Onward in 1874 yielded 600 barrels of oil, and 2,000 taken by the 
Mercury in 1S77 produced 1,100 barrels of oil/' 

Walrus oil is usually of a yellowish color, with greater fluidity than 
seal oil, and has a specific gravity of 0.925 at 59° F. according to 
Brannt. It is more difficult to refine than the oil of the right whale. 
Although classed roughly as " whale oil" in the United States, it is 
usually kept separate from the oil of the right whale and sold for 2 or 
3 cents per gallon more than the latter. It is stated that the product 
in the fisheries north of Europe is generally mixed with and sold as 
seal oil. 

OIL PROM SEA-LIONS AND PUR-SEALS. 

The blubber of the sea-lion is from 1 to 4 inches thick, and that on 
each individual yields from 6 to 20 gallons of oil. Thousands of bar- 
rels of this oil were formerly secured along the coast of California, 
but owing to the decrease in number of these animals, comparatively 
little is now prepared. It is somewhat inferior to sea-elephant or 
t walrus oils, but much better than fur-seal oil. 

A number of years ago when whale and seal oils were quoted above 
a dollar per gallon, there was some sale in this country for oil pre- 
pared from the blubber of the fur-seal; but owing to the small quan- 
tity available, the cost of production, and the technical inferiority of 
the product, there has been no market for it for many years. The 
blubber may average 1^ inches in thickness, varying according to the 
time the animal has been on shore. The oil is of a yellowish-brown 
color, gummy, and possesses an offensive odor. According to the 
terms of the lease of the fur-sealing rights on the Pribilof Islands to 
the North American Commercial Company, the United States Govern- 
ment is entitled to receive 50 cents per gallon for all fur-seal oil pro- 
duced there. This is in excess of the market value of the article, 
leaving nothing for the cost of production and transportation, and, 
needless to state, there is no revenue whatever from this item. 

"The Fishery Industries of the United States, See. V. Vol. II, p. 318. 



216 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AN!) FISHERIES. 
OIL FROM LIVERS OF COD AND RELATED SPECIES. 
SOURCES OF SUPPLY. 

c.xl oil is obtained from the livers of several species of fish. In its 
pure stale il is obtained from the livers of cod only, but those of had- 
dock, pollock, hake, ensk, ling, and even shark and dog-fish are also 
used. The last two, however, are not generally recognized as cod-liver 
oil sources, hut are used mainly for purposes of adulteration. In the 
trade the term "cod-liver oil" is used in a restricted sense, applying 
to the besl quality of oil made from choice fresh cod livers and intended 
for medicinal purposes; all other oil manufactured from livei-s of cod 
and related species, not of quality fitting it for medicinal uses, is des- 
ignated as "cod oil" or ''curriers oil." 

Cod oil is of comparatively recent development as an article of com- 
merce, although it was used locally previous to the nineteenth century. 
On account of Hie ease with which whale and seal oils could be secured, 
cod oil was not in great demand for technical purposes until after the 
beginning of the nineteenth century. There is nothing to indicate 
that in the early cod fisheries on the American coast the livers were 
utilized to any great extent for oil-rendering, and the same is true of 
the early fisheries prosecuted in the seas north of Europe. The small 
demand for medicinal and for technical purposes was readily supplied 
by a lew fishermen of economical and industrious habits, but their 
(.lit put bore only a small proportion to the total quantity obtainable. 
Curriers used a small quantity, and some was employed on fruit trees 
for destroying insects and fungous growth. 

Early in the nineteenth century the production of cod oil became 
quite general on the New England coast. The livers were placed in 
butts and permitted to decompose, and the oil exuding therefrom was 
dipped off from time to time. Not only was this done by the fisher- 
men who landel their catch ashore each night, but also by the 
"bankers" who carried butts and barrels for the purpose. As the 
tanning industries developed, the output of cod oil increased, and by 
1845 practically all the livers secured were rendered into oil. The 
output, however, did not keep pace with the demand and during the 
sixties the price went, up to $1.25 per gallon. Mr. Eben B. Phillips, 
of Swampscott, was one of the pioneer dealers in this product and 
amassed a fortune in the business. 

Gradually other substances were introduced as materials for dress- 
ing leathers, especially sod oil, degras, and compound greases, the 
cheapness of which has greatly affected the market for cod oil. The 
substitution of machine stuffing for hand stuffing in leather-dressing 
and the introduction of chrome tannage have also reduced the 
demand. However, the market for medicinal oil has constantPy 
increased up to the present time. As a result of these combined 
uses, the rendering of the livers into oil is almost coextensive in point 



AQUATIC PRODUCTS IN ARTS AND INDUSTRIES. 217 

of territory with the prosecution of the cod fisheries. The only excep- 
tion is in certain market fisheries where the men do not have time to 
handle the livers properly. 

The market price of medicinal oil frequently falls so low that it 
pays the manufacturer better to prepare only low-grade oil for leather- 
currying, soap-making, and the like. The common oil is, of course, 
turned out at much less cost than the white, odorless, medicinal 
variety. The stearin, which is worth comparatively little and forms 
a considerable portion of the oil, need not be removed from the manu- 
facturing grade. The use of the expensive refining plant required 
for medicinal oil is also obviated. And, finally, there is a very con- 
siderable saving in the cost of packing, as the ordinary oil is shipped 
in old petroleum barrels, while for the finer grade expensive new casks 
or metallic drums have to be provided. For several seasons there was 
a large overproduction of low-grade medicinal oil, and three years ago 
it sold in New York as low as 50 cents per gallon. Curriers' oil does 
not often sell for less than 30 cents per gallon, and the demand for it 
is fairly constant. 

The principal sources of cod-liver oil are the coast of North America 
from Labrador to Cape Cod, Norway, Scotland, Iceland, the Pacific 
coast of the United States, and, during recent years, Japan. On 
account of its greater value, efforts are made on all these coasts to 
produce the light oil for medicinal purposes; but in most sections, on 
account of unfavorable natural conditions, only dark or low-grade 
oils are practicable. Medicinal oil is prepared chiefly on the coast of 
Norway and to a limited extent on the Massachusetts, Maine, Nova 
Scotia, and Newfoundland coasts. 

Owing to the favorable conditions under which the cod fishery is 
there prosecuted, Norway ranks first among countries producing 
medicinal oil, the annual product amounting to about half a million 
gallons. The fishing-grounds are concentrated and situated very 
near the coast, so that the fish are landed in quantities within a few 
hours after capture and before decomposition of the livers has set in. 
Furthermore, the temperature during the fishing season is very low, 
being close to the freezing point, and this tends to retard putrefac- 
tion. In no other part of Europe are the conditions favorable for 
producing medicinal cod-liver oil. A large quantity of low-grade or 
curriers' oil is also produced in Norway, amounting probably to as 
much in bulk as the medicinal oil. 

In Newfoundland much attention has been given to the production 
of medicinal oil, the manufacturers endeavoring to make it as near 
like the Norwegian product as possible. Freezing machines were 
introduced and a considerable quantity of white, odorless, and non- 
congealing oil was made. The general experience, however, was 
that the difference in market value of the medicinal and the trade 
oils was not sufficient to warrant the extra care and the additional 



218 REPORT OF 0OMMI8SIONEE OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

expense. Ai present comparatively little medicinal oil is produced in 
Newfoundland. The Livers are mostly all converted into curriers' oil, 
resulting in an annual output of about 1,100,000 gallons. 

The situation in Nova Scotia is pretty much the same as in New- 
foundland, although much less oil is produced, the annual output 
probably amounting to about 20,000 gallons of medicinal oil and 
250,000 gallons of curriers' oil. 

The bank tisheries of America are situated too far from the land to 
permit the use of the livers in making medicinal oil; but the shore 
fisheries during autumn and winter, when the spawning fish visit the 
Coast, furnish good material for that purpose, resulting in the prepa- 
ration of about 25,000 gallons each year. Much of this is of supe- 
rior quality, and unsurpassed for color and pleasantness of odor and 
taste. The livers taken in the bank fisheries are practically all used 
in preparing curriers' oil, the total annual product of which is about 
450,000 gallons. 

Considerable cod oil has been exported from Japan for medicinal 
purposes, but that received in this country has not found favor with 
the wholesale druggists and has usually been sold for currying. The 
first shipment of 200 cases, made in 1889. sold at 35 cents per gallon. 
We have no data bearing on the cod-oil output in Japan, but with an 
annual catch of 7,000,000 fish it probably does not exceed 100,000 
gallons. 

The entire product of cod oil is estimated as follows : Norway, 1,200,- 
000 gallons; Newfoundland, 1,100,000 gallons; Dominion of Canada, 
300,000 gallons; United States, 475,000 gallons; Japan and all other 
countries, 450,000 gallons, making a total of 3,525,000 gallons of all 
varieties of oil produced from the livers of cod and related species. Of 
this quantity about 650,000 gallons represent the output of medicinal 
oil, and the remaining 2,875,000 gallons is curriers' oil. 

DESCRIPTION OP LIVERS AND THE RESULTING OILS. 

The following description of livers and the account of rendering 
them into oil are the results principally of an inquiry made by the 
writer on the New England coast in October and November of 1901. 
Most of the oil factories were visited and many of the principal fisher- 
men were interviewed. The writer is especially indebted in this con- 
nection to Mr. A. W. Dodd and Messrs. George J. Tarr & Sons, of 
Gloucester, and to Messrs. Geo. II. Leonard & Co., Mr. John B. Baum, 
and Mr. F. F. Dimick, of Boston. 

. Normal cod livers in good condition are of a cream color, uniform 
texture, and very soft, so that the finger may be readily pushed quite 
through them. Lean livers are frequently found. These are tough 
and dark in color, the toughness and darkness increasing with the 
degree of leanness, the color finally reaching a dark brown hue. Lean 
livers furnish very inferior oil, as well as only a small quantity. A 



AQUATIC PRODUCTS IN ARTS AND INDUSTRIES. 219 

certain percentage of the livers are diseased. This condition is usually 
evidenced by a greenish color or by the presence of colored spots, 
which increase in size and number as the disease advances until the 
entire organ is affected. Diseased livers are never used in the prepara- 
tion of medicinal oil, but are freely utilized in making curriers' oil. 
The size of the livers varies considerably, but averages about 12 inches 
in length and 2£ inches in thickness in the center, the weight being 
somewhat over half a pound. Some livers weigh only 1| ounces each, 
and an instance is recorded by Dr. P. P. Moller of one taken in the 
Lofoden fishery which weighed 11 pounds, its length being 43 inches 
and its greatest thickness 6+ inches. 

Considerable difference exists in the size, shape, and general 
appearance of livers of the cod family. Cod livers are elongated, 
with the large end near the dorsal tins and the small end toward the 
tail. Haddock livers are much shorter than those of cod, and have 
little frills or scallops on the edges, whereas those of cod are smooth. 
Haddock and pollock livers are of a cream color, similar to those of 
e.od, while cusk and hake livers are of a light straw color. The livers 
of all Gadidce are usually mixed together by the fishermen, but in the 
season when any particular species is abundant the livers of that 
variety are kept separate. On the New England coast of the United 
States cod livers predominate during the coldest months and pollock 
are taken mostly in October and November. 

In the United States fisheries livers represent about '6^ per cent of the 
weight of the fish, and they yield about 40 per cent of their weight in 
oil; consequently 100,000 pounds of fish yield about 180 gallons of oil. 
On an average, from January to June, 1,000 pounds, dressed weight, 
of cod } 7 ield about 1 bucket, or 24 gallons, of livers, and during the 
latter half of the year the yield increases to 4 gallons per 1,000 pounds 
of dressed fish. A bucket of these livers yields 5 or 6 quarts of oil on 
an average throughout the year, except that in the spring the product 
is sometimes reduced to about 3 quarts to the bucket of livers. 
The yield of hake livers per 1,000 pounds of fish is somewhat larger 
than in case of cod, but the quantity of oil secured from a bucket of 
livers is about the same. Haddock yield best from October to Decem- 
ber, and during the spring and summer the result is small, sometimes 
not over 14; quarts to the bucket. On account of the small yield and 
the conditions surrounding the haddock fishery, only about 15 per cent 
of the livers of that species are saved in the New England fisheries. 
At present pollock do not yield so much as cod, averaging aboirt 5 
quarts to the bucket of livers throughout the year; but previous to 
ten years ago on the New England coast they usually yielded 7 quarts 
of oil in the fall. 

In the Lofoden fishery, according to the official returns, ordinarily 
20 to 30 livers are required to produce 1 gallon of medicinal oil. Dur- 
ing some seasons the livers are quite fat, and 8 to 12 are sufficient; 



220 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF *ISH AND FISHERIES. 

hut when they are very lean, as was the case in 1896, for instance, 
from 36 to 56 are required for 1 gallon of oil. In that fishery the liv- 
ers arc latter at the beginning than at the end of the season. They 
average about 55 pounds to the 100 fish; but during the years when 
they are unusually lean it is much less, as in 1883, when the average 
weight of 100 livers was only 12^ pounds. Usually at the Lofoden 
Islands 250 to L,100 cod give 1 barrel of livers, and 2 barrels of livers 
yield 1 barrel of oil; but in 1883 from 700 to 1,100 fish were required 
for I barrel of livers, and 4 or 5 barrels of those were neeessary for 1 
barrel of oil. Aside from the benefits accruing from the fatness of 
the livers, anything gained in quantity is always lost in quality in the 
preparation of medicinal oil. 

While it is somewhat difficult to distinguish among the oils made 
from the livers of the various members of the cod famity, yet ordina- 
rily there are certain distinctive characteristics apparent to the skilled 
oil-refiner. Cod oil is of a greenish yellow color and usually has less 
pressings or foots than any of the others. Hake oil is almost white, 
but that made from hake taken on certain grounds has a pinkish 
color, which may be removed by filtration through a mineral earth. 
Pollock oil is distinguished by a slightly bitter taste and has a faint 
reddish cast. Its weather-test is rather lower than that of cod oil, 
especially when it has been slightly overcooked in the rendering. 

Oil extracted from perfectly fresh cod livers is light and odorless, 
and, owing to its extensive use in medicine, is known as medicinal cod 
oil or ' ' cod-liver oil. " According to the extent of decomposition of the 
material before the extraction of the oil, the color ranges through all 
shades of yellow and brown to very dark brown, this color being 
attributed to the decomposition of the hepatic tissues and fluids. 
These dark oils are of two general grades; one, the brown, which is 
inferior to the light-brown or medicinal oil, but is frequently used for 
such; and the other, the dark-brown or curriers' oil, is the poorest 
grade prepared, and is exclusive^ used for technical purposes. Prob- 
ably it would be better to say that there are two principal varieties of 
oil, the medicinal and. the curriers', and that unusual market condi- 
tions may result sometimes in the employment of the poorest of the 
medicinal oil for technical uses or the best of the curriers' oil for 
officinal purposes. 

The medicinal value of cod-liver oil was known centuries ago among 
the Laplanders in northern Europe, the descendants of the Norsemen 
in Iceland, and the Eskimos in Alaska. The use of the oil gradually 
extended in Europe during the eighteenth century, being a popular 
home remedy among many seacoast communities and used empiri- 
cally by physicians. Percival and Bardsley in 1782 recommended its 
use in cases of gout and chronic rheumatism. In 1841, J. Hughes 
Bennett, of Edinburgh, published a pamphlet on its medicinal quali- 
ties, strongly recommending it in many cases, and this had much to 



AQUATIC PRODUCTS IN" ARTS AND INDUSTRIES. 221 

do with the general introduction of the oil as a medicine in England 
and America. From that time to the present it has held a prominent 
place in the confidence of physicians, and is regarded as a remedy of 
the highest value in diseases which are marked by malnutrition, pul- 
monary tuberculosis furnishing the most frequent occasion for its 
employment. 

Few subjects connected with materia medica have provoked so 
much discussion as the comparative merits of the light and the dark 
grades of cod-liver oil. Formerly, the brown oil was considered 
superior in efficiency to the paler sorts, and was generally favored for 
medicinal purposes. In recent years, however, chemists have claimed 
that analysis does not reveal any substance in the dark oil which 
would account for greater beneficial activity than the paler grades 
are supposed to possess. While many physicians yet recommend the 
brown oil, the drift of public opinion seems to favor the pale oil, and 
certainly it is more popular with the patients. A discussion of these 
rival claims is beyond the scope of this paper. For information on 
the subject reference is made to A. Gautier and L, Morgues' Les 
AlcaJoides de VHuile de Foie de Morue, Paris, 1890, and to F. P. 
Moller's Cod- Liver Oil and Chemistry, London, 1895. 

PREPARATION OF MEDICINAL OIL. 

On account of its greater value, it is generally desirable to convert 
the livers into medicinal rather than curriers' oil. For this grade the 
livers must be perfectly healthy and fresh, all diseased, lean, or 
slightly decomposed ones being rejected. On account of the necessity 
for having the material perfectly fresh, it is impracticable to manu- 
facture good medicinal oil during the warm months, and even in cold 
weather the sooner the extraction of the oil is begun the better the 
grade secured. Furthermore, it is desirable that the livers should be 
from cod only, those from other species being excluded. This, how- 
ever, is not the uniform practice, and the livers of haddock, hake, 
cusk, etc., are sometimes thrown in with those of cod. It does not 
appear that American manufacturers are any more prone to this 
adulteration than those of other countries. Possibly oil from other 
livers may be equally as efficient as cod, yet until that fact is demon- 
strated beyond a doubt those should be rejected. 

On the New England coast of the United States, the best medicinal 
oil is made from livers collected from the shore fishing boats, which 
land their catches almost daily, and thus deliver them in fresh condi- 
tion. From May to October only a small amount of the best oil can 
be made, because of the scarcity of fish along shore during that season 
and the danger of the material putrefying before reaching the oil 
factory. From October to May the shore fishermen carefully save the 
livers in clean barrels, and if landed within a day or two they are sold 
for making medicinal oil, but if softened or damaged in any way the}' 
are used only for curriers' oil. 



222 KEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

Second only to the careful selection of the livers is the observance 
of perfect cleanliness in the entire process of rendering the oil. The 
livers are thoroughly cleansed from blood and other impurities by 
washing in several waters, and the gall sacs and attached membranes 
arc removed. Throughout the entire process of expressing and refin- 
ing the oil, all tanks, receptacles, and the like are kept free from 
putrefying texture. Some oil-renderers chop the livers into small 
pieces for the purpose of securing a greater quantity of oil, but this is 
by no means the general practice. 

There are two general methods of cooking the livers, viz, (1) by 
wood or coal fire under a water bath, and (2) by the use of steam. 
The first-named is the oldest in use and is also the most economical 
where the quantity of material to be rendered is small. Two metallic 
receptacles or pots are provided, one, in which the livers are placed, 
fitting loosely in the other, with 2 or 3 inches of space between, and 
the larger one set into a furnace so that a fire may be built beneath. 
The space between the two receptacles is filled with water during the 
process of cooking, and this is renewed as required. A fire is built in 
the furnace and the water brought to a boiling point, thus imparting 
a moderate heat to the contents of the pan. In order that the cook- 
ing may be expeditious the pan should be small, holding not over 50 
or 60 gallons. Furthermore, it should be narrow, for greater ease in 
stirring and to minimize the oxygenizing of the oil. Owing to the 
cheapness of this apparatus it is quite popular with those who try-out 
only a small quantity of oil. 

In the second method of cooking, steam-jacket kettles are used, the 
steam-chest being provided with a self-acting safety valve by which 
the pressure can be controlled and regulated. Within the kettle there 
is usually a stirring apparatus operated by steam power. By means 
of this apparatus the cooking may be performed much more expedi- 
tiously than with the former one, as an}? - desired temperature rnaj'' be 
secured and uniformly maintained. 

In order to prevent, so far as practicable, the formation of hydroxy- 
lated compounds, the alleged cause of the unpleasant eructations or 
gastric disturbance from which many persons suffer after taking the 
oil, there was introduced in Norway in 1892 an apparatus for its ex- 
traction without permitting oxidation to take place. This apparatus 
is so contrived that the air can be completely excluded from it during 
the whole operation, the process being conducted in a current of car- 
bonic acid gas from the moment the livers are placed in the apparatus 
until the oil is sealed up in the market receptacles. 

Whatever process of cooking may be adopted, it is desirable that 
the oil be forced out of the hepatic cells in a short space of time 
and by a moderate degree of heat only. The length of time usually 
allowed for cooking is from 2 to 3£ hours, and at no time should the 
temperature exceed 200° F. The duration of the cooking process is an 



AQUATIC PRODUCTS IN ARTS AND INDUSTRIES. 223 

item of great importance in the preparation of medicinal oil, and on 
it is dependent in a large measure the quality of the product. In order 
to get the largest possible amount of oil, some producers cook the 
material- entirely too long, notwithstanding that beyond a certain 
point anything gained in quantity is at great sacrifice of quality. In 
producing a choice grade of oil, the livers must not be exposed to heat 
any longer than absolutely necessary. 

The longer the cooking is continued, the greater the quantity of 
acids and decomposed albumen extracted from the hepatic tissues. 
These substances render the oil strong and unpalatable, and detract 
from its appearance. Further, the longer the livers are exposed to 
heat, the more oxygenized the oil becomes, making it irritative to the 
stomach and causing disagreeable eructations. For the production 
of the clearest and lightest medicinal oil, the livers should not be 
exposed to a greater heat than 160° F., and that only for about 45 
minutes. This, however, is not feasible because the quantity of 
oil produced in that case would be too small to make the business 
profitable. The time must, therefore, be extended as far as practi- 
cable without detracting too much from the quality. But in order to 
produce a first-class medicinal oil, the length of the cooking should 
on no account exceed 2^ or 3 hours, provided the capacity of the liver- 
receptacle does not exceed 50 gallons. 

On completion of the cooking process, the mass of livers and oil is 
allowed to cool. The oil rises to the surface and is drawn off and 
filtered. The liver magma is subjected to pressure and yields a quan- 
tity of dark oil suitable only for curriers' use. The residuary mass 
of hepatic tissues is dried and used for fertilizing purposes. Its 
market value in Gloucester and Boston was formerly $6 or $8 per ton, 
but at present it is only about $3 per ton. 

Filtering the medicinal oil is accomplished by running it through a 
box fitted with several straining frames covered with cloth of suc- 
cessive degrees of fineness and with a tap at the bottom through which 
the oil can be drawn. Or the filter may consist of one or two light 
canvas bags fitted inside of a white moleskin bag with the smooth 
side out. But in filtering the dark oil, it is better to run it through 
charcoal. 

In the process of refining, the medicinal oil is placed in small recep- 
tacles, as 5-gallon cans, and refrigerated either naturally in cold 
weather or by means of ice and salt, as already described in the pro- 
cess of refining sperm oil. When thoroughly chilled and granulated 
the congealed oil is compressed through cotton or canvas bags holding 
about 4 gallons each, for the purpose of extracting the foots, white 
pressings, or stearin. Two or three bags are placed regularly 
upon a substantial wooden platform or table provided with grooves 
for conducting the outflowing oil to a receiving tank. On this row 
of bags there is laid a thin iron plate or slab, then another layer of 



224 REPOBT OF COMMISSIONED OF FISH AND FISHEK1ES. 

bags, and so on, layer after layer, until 15 or 20 bags have been piled 
up. Heavy pressure is then applied and continued 10 or L2 hours, 
when practically all the oil drains from the bags, leaving behind an 
unctuous mass of the consistency of tallow or butter, composed of 

nearly pure stearin, with a small quantity of debris and fibers. The 
quantity of stearin removed depends on the temperature at which 

the congealed oil is pressed. At the usual temperature of 28° to 30° 
F., about 1{ pounds are removed from each gallon of crude oil, the 
latter weighing about 1\ pounds. The stearin is sold at 5 or cents 
per pound and is used by soap- and candle-makers and as a tallow 
substitute in leather-dressing. 

Medicinal cod-liver oil should be exposed to the air as little as pos- 
sible during the whole process of extraction, filtering, and pressing; 
and as soon as the last operation is completed, it should be placed in 
shipping packages and stored in a cool place until marketed. This 
oil has a. greenish tint, is almost tasteless and odorless. For the pur- 
pose of making the oil lighter in color, it is sometimes bleached by 
exposing it in a thin layer to the sun's rays for an hour or more. 
Bleaching medicinal oil is an objectionable process, resulting in no 
particular benefit, and, on the contrary, is productive of much harm 
when long continued. 

The style of the package in which medicinal oil is placed is of much 
importance. Since cod oil readily acquires the flavor of wood and 
becomes discolored thereby, glass or metal receptacles are preferred. 
Tin is much the best material when glass is not used. The Norwe- 
gians use tin-lined barrels. When wooden barrels are employed, 
white oak is preferable to other varieties. 

During recent years many manufacturing pharmacists have pre- 
pared cod-liver oil in such a manner as to overcome the disagreeable 
flavor and the even more objectionable gastric disturbance which so 
frequently follows its use. These products are mostlv in the form of 
emulsions, gelatinous capsules, with sirups, creams, jellies, etc. 

Furthermore, some pharmacists remove the so-called "active prin- 
ciples" in cod-liver oil, the oil itself being subsequently used for tech- 
nical purposes. These "active principles" are extracted by means 
of an alcoholic menstruum, then concentrated by evaporation and 
dissolved in wine. They are placed on the market under various 
proprietary names. In some factories the fresh livers, rather than the 
oil, are used in manufacturing the "active principles," since the latter 
are alleged to occur in far greater abundance in the liver tissues than 
in the oil. According to an account given by the proprietor of one of 
these preparations, the livers are thoroughly minced in a steam-power 
chopping-machine and macerated for several days in large stirring 
machines of special design, a menstruum being employed consisting 
of diluted alcohol containing a small quantity of citric acid. The 
extract is then drawn off and concentrated in vacuo at a temperature 
of 40° F. When the liquid is reduced to about the consistency of 



AQUATIC PRODUCTS IN ARTS AND INDUSTRIES. 



225 



extract of beef, it is removed from the vacuum pan, assayed for 
alkaloidal contents, and then dissolved in wine in proper proportion 
to represent the ' ' active principles " contained in one-fourth its bulk 
of cod-liver oil. 

Only about 10 per cent of the cod-liver oil consumed in this country 
is produced in the American fisheries, the great bulk of it being 
imported from Norway. As already shown, the product of medicinal 
oil in the United States fisheries is only about 25,000 gallons each 
year, whereas the imports usually exceed 200,000 gallons annually, 
and in some years exceed 500,000 gallons. 

The following summary, showing the total quantity and value of 
cod-liver oil imported for consumption into the United States during 
a series of years, is compiled from the United States customs returns : 

Statement of the quantity and value of cod-liver oil imported into the United 
States during a series of years. 



Year ending 
June 30— 


Gallons. 


Values. 


Average 

value per 

gallon. 


Year ending 
June 30— 


Gallons. 


Values. 


Average 

value per 

gallon. 


1880 


315,910 
516, 657 
302,137 
218,716 
412,135 
221,030 
115,454 
130,296 
165,6-33 
287, 183 
267,555 


$152,441 
236, 763 
162,563 
159, 271 
275,078 
1513,945 
67,652 
69,326 
78,233 
81,589 
86,476 


$0. 483 
.459 
.538 
.733 i 
.667 ! 
.696 
.586 
.532 
.472 
.284 
.323 


1891 


248,894 
202, 959 
190, 432 
209,865 
207,145 
179, 660 
179,677 
201,582 
2:33,176 
276, 940 
235,749 


$98,865 
115,577 
99,709 
99,318 
131,804 
203,588 
170,610 
116,913 
127,074 
136,666 
137,715 


$0,397 
.569 


1881 


1892 


1882 


1893 


.524 


1883- 


1894 


473 


1884 .. 


1895 


636 


1885 


1896 


1.133 


1886 


1897 


.961 


1887 


1898 


.582 


1888 


1899. 


.545 


1889 


1900 


.494 


1890 


1901 


.584 









PREPARATION OF COD OIL FOR TECHNICAL PURPOSES. 

The methods of extracting cod oil for currying and other technical 
purposes does not differ essentially from the extraction of medicinal 
oil, the principal difference being the use of all livers secured, the 
absence of extreme cleanliness, and the greater putrefaction or the 
more extensive cooking of the material. Considerable common oil is 
also expressed from the livers cooked for medicinal oil after the latter 
has been dipped or skimmed off. 

The original method of extracting cod oil, and the most common one 
at the present time, is by putrefaction. In the Grand and the West- 
ern banks fisheries, during the process of dressing the fish, the livers 
are collected and placed in liver-butts. These butts are characteristic 
of vessels engaged in a salt-fish trip; in the market fishery for cod, 
haddock, etc., their place is taken by upright barrels or gurry kids. 
There are two liver-butts on each vessel; they consist of large casks, 
with a capacity for about 150 gallons each, mounted horizontally on 
skids immediately in front of the house and lashed securely to the 
deck. On the top, in the bilge of each cask, there is a large square 
opening, covered with a piece of tarpaulin securely fastened at one 



226 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

end, through which the livers are dropped into the cask. As the oil 
cells in the livers are broken by decomposition and by their constant 
churning with t he rolling of the vessel, the oil rises to the surface, and 
is bailed off from time to time to make room for fresh livers. The oil 
dipped or bailed off, known as "sun-tried oil" or "top dippings," is 
placed in barrels, while the refuse blubber remains until the vessel 
reaches port, when it is boiled to extract the remaining oil. 

The "sun-tried oil " represents probably 20 to 40 per cent of the 
total quantity of oil produced. It is superior to that rendered by 
cooking, being heavier bodied, and does not chill so quickly, the quan- 
tity of foots being much less. The oil first obtained from the butts is 
of a light j 7 ellow color, and formerly was used to some extent for medic- 
inal purposes. As putrefaction advances, the color deepens to a 
brownish shade, and that extracted by cooking the decomposed livers 
ashore is very dark, with a greenish fluorescence in reflected light. 
In small quantities it shows a brown color, and therefore is known as 
brown oil. None of this oil is used for medicinal purposes, owing to 
its strong odor and flavor and the abundance of decomposed tissue 
contained in it. The market fishermen, who return to port every two 
or three weeks, save the livers and sell them to the oil-merchants at 
25 or 30 cents per bucket of 2^ gallons each. 

Of the several grades of cod oil used for technical purposes, the best 
is that made from livers taken in the Grand Banks fisheries; this is 
known as "Newfoundland cod oil" and sells for about 2 cents per 
gallon more than " domestic cod oil " made from livers taken on West- 
ern and Georges Banks. " Straits oil " and " bank oil " were formerly 
well-known grades of cod oil, but these are now made entirely from 
menhaden. The low grades of cod oil are strained or filtered in the 
same way as the medicinal oil, 100 gallons yielding 15 or 20 pounds of 
foots, worth about 4 cents per pound. 

Cod oil is used for currying mostly in New York, Pennsylvania, 
Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, and Wisconsin, only about 20 per cent being 
used in New England. Some of the best quality is exported. Small 
quantities are also used for soap-making and in various compounds. 

The following table (based upon the closing quotations each week 
for prime domestic oil, as contained in the New York trade journals) 
shows the lowest and highest selling prices for cod oil for technical 
purposes in the New York market during each year from 1891 to 1902: 



Year. 


Price per 
gallon. 


Year. 


Price per 
gallon. 


1891 


$0.32 to $0.43 
.37 .39 
.36 .39 
.28 .38 
.27 .30 
.24 .27 


1897 


$0.24 to $0.30 
.28 .35 
.32 .34 
.30 .37 
.31 .38 
.33 .39 


1892 


1898 

1899 


1893 


1894 


1900 

1901 


1895 


IS'. Hi .. 


1902 







AQUATIC PRODUCTS IN ARTS AND INDUSTRIES. 227 



OIL FROM LIVERS OF SHARKS AND RELATED SPECIES. 

The livers of various species of sharks and allied fish are suitable 
for oil-production, giving rise in some localities to important fisheries. 
The principal species used are the sleeper shark, otherwise known as 
the nurse, ground, or gurry shark (Somniosus), taken in northern 
waters from the Arctic seas southward to Massachusetts, Oregon, and 
France; the basking or bone shark (Cetorhinus), formerly quite 
numerous, but now taken to a less extent, north of Europe and on the 
coast of Peru, Australia, California, etc.; the oil shark (Galeorhi- 
nus), on the Pacific coast, especially in California, and the dog-fish 
(Squalus), distributed throughout both hemispheres. In addition to 
these, nearly every species of shark yields livers suitable for oil- 
rendering. 

The sleeper shark appears to be the most important species so far 
as oil-making is concerned. This is a large fish, individuals ranging in 
length from 12 to 25 feet. The livers yield from 12 to 50 gallons of 
oil each when taken in the autumn, but in the spring and summer 
they are almost worthless for oil purposes. On the New England 
coast this species is much less numerous than formerly, but it is 
reported in abundance on the Pacific coast of the United States. 

During the autumn the taking of the sleeper shark is a somewhat 
important branch of the minor Icelandic fisheries, and it is also taken 
by the Russians off the Kola Peninsula. The most important fishery, 
however, is off the coast of Norway, and especially between Lofoden 
Islands and Bear Island, in depths of from 150 to 200 fathoms of 
water. The Norwegians employ small vessels of 20 to 35 tons, carry- 
ing about six men each, the season beginning the first of October and 
ending in February. The fish are taken by means of large, strong- 
hooks baited with fish or salted seal blubber. 

The basking shark, probably the largest of all sea fishes, has been 
taken very extensively for the oil contained in the livers, but owing 
to decrease of the species the quantity now secured is much reduced. 
This fish attains an enormous size, the prevailing length of fully- 
grown individuals being 30 to 35 feet. The liver is proportionally 
large, yielding ordinarily from 80 to 200 gallons of oil and occasionally 
as much as 400 gallons. Indeed, a yield of 600 gallons has been re- 
ported from a single individual, but this has not been satisfactorily 
established. This species differs from other sharks in not being 
voracious. Therefore it must be taken with harpoons rather than 
with baited hooks. There is said to have been quite an extensive 
fishery for it on the Massachusetts coast about the middle of the 
eighteenth century. According to Captain Atwood, writing in 1880, 
"Not more than half a dozen have been caught near Provineetown 
since 1810." 

The basking shark is numerous on the coast of Peru and Ecuador, 



228 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

and its capture gives employment to a large number of small vessels, 
manned by 6 or 8 men each. The American vessels fishing for hump- 
back whales on thai coast have occasionally engaged in its capture 
when whales were not in sight. Capt. George O. Baker, of New 
Bedford, reports that on one occasion in two days' fishing he secured 
L25 barrels of shark oil while on the lookout for humpback whales. 

The method of taking this fish off the Peruvian coast, according to 
Captain Baker, is to approach it while it is lying motionless at the 
surface of the water and to fasten a harpoon in the top of the head 
forward of the eyes, so as to hold the head up and thus prevent the 
fish from going down or "sounding," and then the boat approaches 
and lances it until it is quite dead. It is taken alongside the vessel, a 
hole is cut in one side of the abdomen, a strap inserted on either side of 
the incision and the tail hoisted up so as to raise the body somewhat 
out of the water. A man then enters the abdominal cavity and with 
a knife cuts out the liver in pieces. These are passed up on deck, 
minced, as in the case of whale blubber, and placed in the try-pots. 
After a sufficient length of time the cooked liver-pieces are removed 
from the pot, placed in a canvas or hempen bag, suspended from aloft, 
and permitted to drain. Nothing but the oil is saved. A considerable 
market for it exists in South America, where it is used principally as 
a body for paints for exterior surfaces. The price is usually 8 or 10 
centsj)er gallon more than that of humpback oil. 

The basking shark is taken occasionally on the California coast, the 
individual yield of oil there averaging about 125 gallons. The same 
species is also said to be taken in the waters of British India, being 
harpooned in great numbers by the fishermen of Karachi and other 
coastal districts. 

The common dog-fish (Squalus) of the Atlantic coast and a similar 
species on the Pacific coast are the principal oil-yielding sharks in 
America. These fish range from 2 to 5 feet in length and from 5 to 
15 pounds in weight. They are the great pest of fishermen, destroy- 
ing nets, robbing fish from the trawls, and committing other depre- 
datious. 

It does not appear that any important fisheries are organized espe- 
cially for the capture of these fish, but many are taken incidentally in 
the shore and Georges cod fisheries, particularly during the spring, 
and the livers are extracted and thrown in the liver-butts along with 
those of other fish. The livers are generally of a bluish-gray color, 
shaped somewhat like those of cod or pollock and are very brittle, 
breaking readily when lifted. 

In Boston and Gloucester dog-fish livers are sold at the same rate as 
those* of cod and related species — viz, 25 to 30 cents per bucket of 2-£ 
gallons. The yield of oil during August, September, and October is 
about 6 quarts per bucket, but at other seasons it is much smaller. 

Because of the small quantity secured, this oil is rarely kept separate 
from cod oil for currying purposes, and it sells for about the same 



AQUATIC PEODUCTS IN ARTS AND INDUSTRIES. 229 

price per gallon. A distinctive characteristic is its strong odor when 
warm, resembling that of ammonia; but this may be removed by 
proper refining. It is estimated that from 10,000 to 15,000 gallons of 
dog-fish oil are prepared on the New England coast annually, nearly 
all of which is combined with and sold as cod oil for currying purposes. 
Captain Atwood writes : a 

When I first began to go fishing, in 1810 to 1820, the dog-fish fishery was consid- 
ered one of the most valuable fisheries that we had around the shore. They appeared 
here in the spring and were very plenty, and would last a day or two and then all 
would be gone. Then you would not see a dog-fish again all summer, but about the 
10th or middle of September they came to us again, returning South. They would 
stay into November, and during that time the fishermen would get — a man and 
a boy — all the way from 8, 10. to 15 barrels of oil. Twenty-five years ago we 
would occasionally see dog-fish in the summer. The last fifteen years they have 
been here all summer. During the war they were plenty all summer, and the 
livers sold for $1 a bucket, and now they are worth but 20 or 25 cents. 

On the coast of Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia, large 
numbers of dog-fish are taken for conversion of the livers into oil. 
which finds a read} 7 sale, owing to the high cost of other oils on that 
coast. These fish are reported especially abundant in the vicinity of 
Queen Charlotte Island, in British Columbia, where they are cap- 
tured by the Indians. The livers of 100 dog-fish yield G or 8 gallons 
of oil, and the rest of the carcass is utilized for fertilizer. Not only 
is there an abundance of this oil produced for local use, but also 
much for export. As long ago as 1870, about 60,000 gallons were 
exported from Victoria, at a valuation of 40 cents per gallon. 6 The 
present annual product is said to exceed 200,000 gallons. New York 
dealers have received some good samples which indicate a very low 
weather-test, but owing to the duty and freight rates little has come 
on the Eastern market. 

Dog-fish oil has been used on the Pacific coast in competition with 
other oils with most favorable results, being "equal, if not superior, 
to oil supplied to Her Majesty's ships by the service, both for lubri- 
cating and lighting purposes." 6 ' 

Similar species of dog-fish are taken on the coasts of Norway, Chile, 
and elsewhere, the fisheries being confined to the summer months and 
the catch secured with nets as well as with hooks. 

Along the Atlantic coast of the United States but little attention 
is given to the capture of sharks for economic purposes, notwith- 
standing the many species which occur there in comparatively large 
numbers. In several localities on the southern coast small fisheries 
are prosecuted during the winter months, for then the yield of oil 
is greatest. Among the species taken, other than those above men- 
tioned, are the sand or yellow shark (Carcharias litto rails), which 

"Fishery Industries of United States, Sec. I, p. 674. 
''Report of the Commissioner of Fisheries of Canada for 1876, p. 346. 

<■ Fourteenth Annual Report of the Department of Marine and Fisheries of Canada for the year 
1881, p. 214 of supplement No. 2. 



230 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

attains a length of 5 feet, and yields from 1 to 2 gallons of oil; the 
leopard or tiger shark, length from L0 to 25 feet, yielding 10 to 20 gal- 
lons of oil; the mackerel shark, also known as porbeagle or blue shark, 
measuring from 8 to 10 feet in length, and the liver yielding from 2 
to 7 gallons of oil; the dusky shark (Carcharhimts dbscurus), which 
attains a Length of 10 feet; the hammer-headed shark (Sphyma 
zygcena), of 12 or 15 feet in length; the dog shark (Mustdus canis), 2 
or 3 feet in Length; and the thresher shark (Alopias wipes). Some 
of the large sand and leopard sharks are difficult to secure and their 
capture gives considerable trouble. They are taken usually by means 
of harpoons or stout hooks and lines. When taken from a small boat 
at sea, immediately after the fish has been secured it is lanced to 
death, the belly is ripped open with a knife, the boat canted, and the 
large, slippery liver pulled over the side into the boat, and then the 
carcass is discarded. Man3 T of the smaller sharks are captured with 
menhaden, in purse seines, and are utilized at the menhaden fac- 
tories. Owing to the damage which they do to the twine, the fisher- 
men prefer to not set the seines around sharks, but it is difficult to 
avoid taking a few of them with the menhaden. It is estimated that 
from 7,000 to 10,000 sharks are captured annually by the menhaden 
steamers, all of which are converted into oil and fertilizer. 

On the Pacific coast of the United States, especially in California, 
the oil shark (Galeorhinus) is utilized. It is 1 to G feet in length and 
weighs from 40 to 70 pounds, the yield of oil from the livers varying 
from two-thirds of a gallon to 1 gallon each. The fish are taken by 
means of hooks and lines when they enter the lagoons for reproduc- 
tive" purposes during the summer. The fins of this species are dried 
and sold for 12 or 15 cents per pound, the Chinese using them in 
soup-making. Other species of shark utilized on the Pacific coast 
are the shovel-nose shark, thresher shark, and the man-eater or white 
shark. The shovel-nose shark was taken extensively along the coast 
of Humboldt County, Cal., from 1858 to 1868, from 50 to 60 men 
being employed at times in the fishery. It is harpooned in deep water 
and taken by means of hand lines in shallow water. This species 
measures from 6 to 10 feet in length, and the liver of each individual 
yields 3 to 7 gallons of oil. 

There are several species of skates, rays, etc., occurring on the 
United States coasts which are utilized to some extent for oil-produc- 
tio"n. Principal among these are the common skate (Raja eHnacea), 
the prickly skate (R. eglarderia), the smooth or barn-door skate (R. 
la-vis), the sting ray (Dasyatis centrwa), the cow-nose ray (Rhinop- 
tera bonebsus), etc. Many thousands of these are captured by the men- 
haden tishermen and utilized at the factories for conversion into oil 
and guano. Oil from the liver of the torpedo or cramp-fish ( Tetro- 
narceoccirfeitfalis), a large species, which at times attains a weight of 
200 pounds, is said to be valued by the fishermen in the treatment of 
cramp and rheumatism. 



AQUATIC PRODUCTS IN ARTS AND INDUSTRIES. 231 

Captain Atwood wrote in regard to the oil from the torpedo: 
I used to go and look for them for their livers — for the oil. The oil is one of the 
best lamp oils that I ever saw. It has been used sometimes beneficially in cases 
of cramp. I got a gallon of oil from one liver. I do not know but I have seen a 
cramp-fish big enough to make three gallons of oil." 

The liver of the saw-fish (Pristis), numerous on the South Atlantic 
and Gulf coasts of the United States, yields from G to 18 gallons of 
oil. It is said that in British Guiana this oil is used for illumination 
and also for anointing the bodies of the inhabitants. The liver of 
the elephant-fish (Chimczra), which occurs in abundance on the Cali- 
fornia coast, is large and yields choice oil. This fish has a maximum 
length of 2 feet and weighs 6 or 7 pounds. 

It appears from the above that the yield of oil from individual shark 
livers ranges from much less than 1 pint in case "of the dog-fish and, 
others to the 400 gallons procured from the basking shark. Other 
than the livers, the carcasses of sharks are slightly oleaginous, and 
are rarely ever utilized in oil-rendering, but they are of course useful 
for conversion into fertilizer. The method of extracting the oil from 
the livers is much the same in all cases. If they are large, they should 
first be cut in small pieces or minced, as is done with whale blubber. 
The pieces are then subjected to heat until the cells are thoroughly 
broken, when the oil is extracted by pressure or it is permitted to 
drain therefrom. In case the oil is to be used for medicinal purposes 
great cleanliness is observed, the livers being washed free from blood 
and the gall bladder removed. A quantity of water is placed in the 
kettle with the hepatic tissues and the whole boiled gently for an hour 
or two. On cooling, the oil floats on the surface and is dipped off and 
stored. It may be refined in precisely the same manner as cod oil. 

According to Brannt, shark oils are distinguished as being the 
lightest of fixed oils, their specific gravities ranging from 0.870 to 
0.880 at 59° F., so that a mixture with blubber or other fish oils can 
at once be recognized by the higher specific gravity. They are pale 
yellow and clear, remain fluid at 21° F.„ and contain very little stea- 
rin. They burn with a bright flame without carbonizing the wick. 
Brannt further states that they contain about the same constituents 
as cod-liver oil, but are richer in iodine. On account of their per- 
centage of gall constituents the liver oils are readily distinguished 
from other fish oils. 

Shark oils are largely used in tanneries, in steel-tempering, and in 
various compounds where it is desired to impart a low specific gravity. 
They are also valuable as a body for paints for out-of-door objects, as 
walls, fences, etc. In some localities certain kinds are used by medi- 
cal practitioners, who consider them quite equal to cod-liver oil. In 
the drug stores of this country shark oil is occasionally found with a 
label suggestive of an oriental origin and recommending its use as an 
embrocation in numerous diseases. 

a Natural History of Aquatic Animals, p. 667. 



232 REPOKT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

MENHADEN OIL. 

Iii speaking of fish oil in a restricted sense along the Atlantic coast 
of the United States, reference is made generally to that yielded by 
the menhaden (Brevoortia tyrannus), a member of the Chipeidce, or 
herring family, known locally by a score or more of names. This 
species occurs from Maine to Texas, the principal fishing-grounds 
being the ba} T s and sounds from Maine to North Carolina, with the 
addition of the Texas coast during the last two years. 

The extraction of menhaden oil differs from the preparation of other 
marine-animal oils in that the scrap or solid tissue remaining after 
the liquids have been removed is usually greater in value than the 
oil. Indeed, it was principally as a fertilizer that the menhaden was 
first utilized, the oil being extracted as an incidental product. Because 
'of the greater value and importance of the scrap, the methods of 
manipulating the fish, extracting the oil, and the like are described in 
the second part of this report, relating to the preparation and utiliza- 
tion of fertilizers from fishery products. (See pp. 255-2G5.) 

While small quantities of menhaden oil were prepared for domestic 
and local use previous to 1860, there was comparatively little marketed 
previous to the civil war. The first lot on the New York market sold 
at 75 cents per gallon and, its use giving satisfaction, the market price 
quickly advanced to $1.40 in 1865, the highest figure ever realized. 
For ten years the menhaden producers sold their crude oil within a 
range of 50 cents and $1 per gallon, resulting in great profit. This 
led to a large increase in the number of factories, the purchase of costly 
steamers and equipments, and a great overproduction. 

The excess of production, a lack of cooperation among the factory- 
men, and competition with substitutes resulted in a gradual reduction 
of prices, until in the autumn of 1887 menhaden oil sold at 19 cents 
per gallon, which was much below the cost of manufacture. The 
necessity for protecting their invested capital led to concerted action 
among the producers and an attempt to bring about an agreement; on 
prices and also a limitation of the fishing season. Many factories 
were closed and the vessels laid up, the owners preferring to keep 
them idle rather than to engage in unprofitable work. 

The diminished extent of the output and a better understanding 
among the producers resulted iii an improvement in prices, which 
finally reached 40 cents per gallon in the spring of 1893. Then, owing 
to unfavorable conditions, prices began to decrease until in the fall of 
1896 crude northern menhaden oil was sold at 18 cents per gallon, the 
lowest price ever reached. Since 1896 the business has been conducted 
with much less competition and with greater economy by reason of 
improved machinery and increased facilities, and as prices have been 
somewhat higher a fair profit has been derived from the business by 
those whose invested capital is not greatly in excess of the value of 
their respective plants. 



Report U. S. F. C. 1902. 



Plate 16. 




AQUATIC PRODUCTS IN ARTS AND INDUSTRIES. 



233 



During the last thirty years the product of menhaden oil has aver- 
aged about 2,000,000 gallons annually. The largest yield was in 1878, 
when 3,809,233 gallons were produced, and the smallest in 1881, when 
the reported product was only 1,260,549 gallons. The following sum- 
mary, compiled from the returns of the United States Menhaden Oil 
and Guano Association, shows the product for each year from 1873 to 
1898, inclusive, and also the number of fish taken. For purposes of 
comparison, the average quantity of oil to the thousand fish in each 
year is also given. , 

Statement of the quantity of menhaden oil manufactured, the number of menhaden 
utilized, and the average quantity of oil to the thousand fish in each year from 
1873 to 1898, inclusive. 



Year. 


Oil made. 


Fish util- 
ized. 


Quantity 
of oil to 
1,000 Ash. 


Year. 


Oil made. 


Fish util- 
ized. 


Quantity 
of oil to 
1,000 fish. 


1873... 

1874 

1875 

1876 

1877 

1878 

1879 

1880 

1881 

1882 

1883 ._ 

1884 

1885 


Gallons. 
2,214,800 
3,372,847 
2,681,482 
2,992, IKK) 
2,426,589 
3,809,233 
2,258,901 
2,034,940 
1,266,54!) 
2,021,316 
2,166,320 
3,722,927 
2,346,319 


Number. 

397,700,000 

492,878,000 

563,327,000 

512,450,000 

587,642,125 

767, 779, 250 

637,063,750 

776,875,000 

454, 192, OIK) 

346,638,555 

613,461,776 

858,592,691 

479,214,415 


Gallons. 
5.57 
6.84 
4.76 
5.84 
4.13 
4.96 
3.37 
2.62 
2.79 
5.83 
3.55 
4.34 
4.89 


1886.. 

1887 

1888 

1889. 

1890 

1891 

1892. 

1893 

1894.. 

1895 

1896 

1897 

1898 


Gallons. 
1,805,544 
2,273,566 
2,051,128 
3,327,030 
2,939,217 
1,946,642 
1,329,644 
1,269,002 
1,999,506 
1,767,754 
1,741,5130 
2,147,113 
2,450,000 


Number. 
283,106,000 
333,564,800 
439, 388, 950 
555, 319, 800 
533,686,156 
.355, 138, 873 
223,623,750 
366,406.625 
533,361,900 
461,747,000 
401,425,800 
584,302,930 
542,500,000 


Gallons. 
6.38 
6.81 
4.67 
5.99 
5.51 
5.48 
5.95 
3.47 
3.75 
3.83 
4.34 
3.68 
4.51 



The following shows the lowest and highest prices quoted for crude 
northern menhaden oil in the New York market each year from 1803 
to 1901, inclusive. These figures are based on the closing quotations 
published in the New York trade journals., especially the OH, Paint 
and Drug Reporter, each successive week. 

Statement of the range of prices for crude northern menhaden oil in the Neto 
York market from 1863 to 1902, inclusive. 



Year. 


Lowest. 


Highest. 


Year. 


Lowest. 


Highest. 


1863 


$0.75 
1.10 
.80 
.70 
.45 
.50 
.624 
.40' 
.35 
.36 
.32 
.35 
.30* 
.30 
.30 
.23 
.24 
.29 
.30 
.32 


$1.00 

1.35 

1.40 

1. 13.S 

.70" 

.95 

1.02* 

.68 

.55 

.65 

.60* 

.47* 

.48* 

.50 

.46 

.45 

.35 

.43 

.39* 

.42" 


1883 


$0.35 
.26 
.21 
.20 
.19 
.20 
.21 
.22 
.25.1 
.30 
.33 
.21 
.19 
.18 
.18 
.22* 

.m 

.25 
.26 
.26 


$0.48 
.47* 
30 


1864.. 


1884 


1865. 


1885 


1866.... 


1886 . . . 


26 


1867 


1887 . . 


21 


1868 _ 


1888 

1889 


32 


1869 _ 


.32 


1870 


1890. . 


30 


1871 __ 


1891 


30 


1872 


1892 

1893 


38 


1878 


40 


1874 


1894 


.33 


1875 


1895 

1896 

1897 

1898 _ 

1899 

1900 __ 

1901 _ 

1902... 


25 


1876 


23 


1877 


25 


1878 


24 


1879.. 


27 


1880.. 


27 


1881 


30 


1882 


.29 









Menhaden oil varies in color from clear straw, through amber and 
the various shades of brown to almost black, depending principally on 
the condition of the oliferous material when the oil is rendered. If 



234 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

tin- fish are fresh, the resulting oil is usually clear, bright, and com- 
paratively odorless and tasteless; and according to the extent of the 
decomposition the oil becomes darker in color until it approaches a 
very dark brown. However, this is not always the case, for perfectly 
fresh fish sometimes yield dark oil. 

The standard grades recognized for crude oil are A, B, C, and D; 
these terms being synonymous, respectively, with extra light crude, 
light crude, brown crude, and dark brown crude. The bulk of the 
output is of A grade, and little D oil is now prepared except in the 
Southern factories. 

In the process of refining, menhaden oil is first heated and then 
placed in barrels and chilled in the manner already described for 
whale oil, either by exposure during cold weather or b}^ refrigeration. 
This chilling grains the oil, the thick parts collecting together and the 
limpid oil forming globules. The grained oil is then placed in bags 
made of coarse material, and these carefully arranged one above 
another in a press. On applying compression, the thin oil comes 
out first and the impurities and stearin are left behind. The oil 
is then placed in shallow vats or tanks, exposed to the ra} T s of the sun 
and protected by a glass covering, where it remains for a day or two. 
It may also be clarified by treating it with caustic soda and acids, 
resulting in a short time in a clear, light-straw color. 

The pressing of the oil in connection with its refinement may be 
done at a summer temperature, but in that case only a portion of the 
foots are extracted and the oil has a poor weather-test. The usual 
weather pressing during the summer yields 5 per cent of foots, and the 
oil stands a temperature of about 50° F. If pressed at a temperature 
of 32° to 35° F., the foots extracted represent about 10 per cent of the 
original bulk. The foots are used as a substitute for tallow in leather- 
currying and also in soap-making, the market price approxi mating 3 
cents per pound. 

The products from refining menhaden oil are pressed extra light, 
pressed light, pressed light brown, pressed dark brown, bleached, 
extra bleached, oil foots or pressings, bleached oil foots, extra bleached 
oil foots, and menhaden oil soap. The first four grades of pressed oil 
are obtained respectively from A, B, CV and D grades of crude oil. 
A difference of about 1 cent per gallon exists between the prices of 
each of these consecutive grades of pressed oil. The pressed light 
is the standard grade, and when that sells at 30 cents per gallon the 
pressed extra light sells at 31 cents, the pressed light brown at 29 and 
the pressed dark brown at 28 cents per gallon. On the same basis the 
bleached sells at 33 cents per gallon, the extra bleached at 35 cents; 
and the same oils pressed at a low temperature sell for 1 or 2 cents 
more per gallon. A corresponding price for the unbleached foots 
is 2^ cents per pound; bleached foots, 3£ cents per pound; extra 
bleached foots, 4 cents, and menhaden-oil soap, 4 cents. 

The names " straits oil " and " bank oil" were formerly applied to 



AQUATIC PRODUCTS IN ARTS AND INDUSTRIES. 235 

certain grades of cod oil, but at present these refer, respectively, to 
B and C grades of pressed menhaden oil, gradual increase in adul- 
teration having resulted in complete change of material. 

The principal uses for menhaden oil are currying or filling leather, 
illuminating, paint-making, lubricating compounds, tempering, soap- 
making, screw-cutting, wire-drawing, and cordage-manufacture, the 
first three consuming about 80 per cent of the total product. The 
light and extra light oils are generally employed in illuminating, 
lubricating, painting, and cordage-manufacture; the light brown for 
currying, and the dark oil for tempering and screw-cutting. 

Large quantities of menhaden oil were formerly used by miners in 
safety lamps, but leather-currying has been the principal consumer 
during the last thirty years. Its use in steel works is of compara- 
tively recent origin, and the steel industries now require many 
thousands of barrels annually. 

It was as a substitute for linseed oil in painting that menhaden 
acquired its first popularity prior to 1865. The oil as then prepared 
was of very indifferent quality, the process of manufacture being com- 
paratively crude, and much of the product would not now be consid- 
ered marketable. On account of its being too highly recommended 
and all grades being sold for the purpose, considerable prejudice was 
soon created against it as a substitute for linseed oil. But with 
the improved methods of extraction and refining and with a better 
understanding of its limitations and technical qualities, these objec- 
tions have been largely overcome. Its odor makes it undesirable for 
interiors and restricts its use to outside surfaces. According to Mr. 
A. II. Gill, its value for drying is somewhat less than that of linseed, 
but greater than that of poppy-seed, corn, cotton-seed, and sesame oils. 

Menhaden stands the weather much better than linseed oil, espe- 
cially when applied to tin roofs and ironwork. Owing to its glutinous 
nature, it is harder to apply than linseed oil, and consequent^ work- 
men do not always favor its adoption. This use of menhaden oil is 
now increasing and a single paint factory in New York City consumes 
4,000 or 5,000 barrels annually. 

If the oil is cleared from the foots by straining or pressing, cut with 
sulphuric acid of 45° strength in proportion of 1 gallon of acid to 50 
gallons of oil, well stirred in and permitted to settle, and then washed 
down by a spray of cold water played on it, the acid and gluten are 
precipitated. Thus treated, menhaden makes a good substitute for 
linseed oil in mixing paints; it may also be used for leather-dressing 
and, mixed in equal proportions with paraffin and plumbago, makes 
a desirable lubricator. 

The use of menhaden oil for illuminating purposes is confined to 
miners' lamps, especially in the coal mines of Pennsylvania and West 
Virginia. For this purpose it is generally combined with mineral or 
vegetable oils, the mixture giving better satisfaction than the use of 
menhaden oil alone. It is non-explosive and therefore much safer 



23(5 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

than mineral oil. The luminous effect of refined menhaden oil has 
been found to be high with a relatively low consumption, as compared 
with petroleum. 

The following treatment of menhaden oil in combination with other 
substances for painting purposes is recommended by Andes: a 

Into a wooden barrel are brought 144 liters of good vinegar, 6 kilograms of 
litharge, and 6 kilograms of zinc sulphate; then the barrel is rolled about for a 
long time, and the liquid then poured into 100 liters of fish oil. The mixture is 
well stirred, and then left at rest for twenty-four hours; when the clear oil is 
drawn off, seven-eighths of the original quantity is obtained. Fifty-four liters of 
linseed oil and 9 liters of turpentine are at once added. The liquid is left at rest 
for several days, and then drawn off. The residue is mixed with an equal volume 
of milk of lime, and used for painting wood and iron which are exposed to the air. 

When whale and cod oils are scarce and high in price menhaden 
oil is extensively used as a substitute. Its chief competitors are 
degras, petroleum compounds, and herring oil made in the United 
States and in Japan and Europe, the latter competing with it prin- 
cipally in Europe. For further data in regard to this oil, especial^ 
the methods of manufacture, extent of production, and so forth, see 
pages 255-2G5. 

HERRING OIL. 

The herring, including its related species — the sardine, pilchard, 
sprat, anchovy, etc. — is probably the most valuable and important 
product of the world's fisheries, not so much on account of the choice 
nutritive qualities, perhaps, as because of the enormous quantities 
obtained. When the product exceeds the demands of the food mar- 
kets, including those required for salting, canning, etc., these fish 
furnish excellent material for oil-production. Their utilization for 
this purpose is by no means of recent origin, the production of herring 
oil in the Bohuslan fisheries of Sweden over a century ago ranging 
between 1,000,000 and 2,000,000 gallons annually. Nor is it of lim- 
ited geographical distribution, as the oil is produced to a greater 
or less extent in nearly every maritime country of Europe, in the Brit- 
ish North American provinces, on the northern coast of the United 
States, in Japan, certain parts of the African coast, etc. 

Since only the surplus or waste fish are used iu oil-making, and as 
the catch fluctuates greatly, it follows that much variation occurs 
from year to year in the quantity produced. The figures showing 
the output in a certain territory are quite unreliable for any year 
except the one to which they particularly relate. It is therefore dif- 
ficult to approximate the product of herring oil throughout the world. 
It seems probable, however, that a reliable estimate would place 
the average annual yield at not far from 3,500,000 gallons, of which 
only a small portion is produced in the United States. 

During the fifteen or twenty years preceding 1875, when fish oiks 

"Andes: Drying Oils, p. 280, London, 1901. 



Report U. S. F. C. 1902. 



Plate 17. 




PRIMITIVE FORM OF KETTLE AND PRESS FOR RENDERING OIL FROM HERRING ON THE 

MAINE COAST. 




MODERN TYPE OF HYDRAULIC OIL-PRESS USED IN THE MENHADEN FACTORIES. (SEE P. 262J 



AQUATIC PRODUCTS IN ARTS AND INDUSTRIES. 237 

were worth about double their present values, there were small plants 
all along the eastern coast of Maine for utilizing the herring in oil- 
manufacture. The crude material consisted principally of refuse fish 
taken in connection with the smoked-herring business, especially the 
small fish which otherwise were valueless. Sometimes the larger her- 
ring — over 6 inches in length — were utilized, but only when the com- 
parative prices of oil and smoked fish warranted. This business did 
not engage the attention of large establishments, but was conducted 
by many fishermen in a small way, each man working for himself. 

As the refuse herring accumulated they were sprinkled with salt, 
using about 1 bushel to 3 or 4 barrels of fish. After remaining in the 
salt about 24 hours, they were boiled in open kettles and then sub- 
jected to pressure in a screw press with capacity for about 1+ barrels. 
The average yield was about 16 gallons of oil to the ton of fish, but 
at times the fish were so fat that 20 and even 25 gallons were secured 
to each ton. The chum or scrap was partly dried and then sold as 
fertilizer at about $12 per ton. 

The development of the sardine business furnished more profitable 
use for small herring, and since 1875 the waste from the sardine can- 
neries has provided most of the material for herring-oil production in 
Maine. This waste consists of the spoiled fish and of the heads and 
viscera of fish used in canning, each factory generally using its own 
refuse. The extent of the business is small. The total output in 
1889 amounted to 34,316 gallons of oil, valued at $8,580, and 1,941 
tons of scrap, worth $15,528. Owing to the decreased value of the 
oil, this business has since fallen off considerably, the output in 1898 
amounting to only 12,672 gallons of oil, worth $2,116, and 785 tons 
of scrap, worth $5,910. 

The method of manufacture is described by Mr. Ansley Hall on page 
479 of Report of U. S. Fish Commission for 1896. 

Considerable quantities of oil have been prepared from herring on 
the Pacific coast of the United States. The industry dates from 1867, 
but the output was irregular for a number of years. In 1885 the 
product amounted to upward of 200,000 gallons, much of which is 
alleged to have been sold as whale oil. In 1892, according to the Oil, 
Paint, and Drug Reporter, the output approximated 500,000 gallons, 
60 per cent of which was prepared at Killisnoo, Alaska. The yield 
of oil ranges from 1 to 4 gallons to the barrel of^fish. The value on 
the Pacific coast is about 20 cents per gallon, and the dried scrap 
sells for about $25 per ton. This oil is usually quite clear, and the 
foots extracted in refining are nearly as white as spermaceti and sell 
for about 1 cent per pound less than tallow from sheep and oxen, 
being used largely by soap-makers on the coast. 

When herring are taken in the fisheries of Europe in such quantities 
that they can not be profitably used for food, it is customary to con- 
vert them into oil and fertilizer. Herring oil is extensively manufac- 
tured in Norway and Sweden, and with the exception of that obtained 



238 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

from cod livers, it is now the principal fish oil of those countries. The 
manufacture in Sweden developed rapidly eight or ten years ago, due 
to the abundance and consequent cheapness of herring. According 
to Capt. J. W. Collins, the number of factories increased from 3 
in 1891 to 22 in 1805, the output in the season of 1895-96 amounting 
to about 500,000 gallons of oil and 10,000 tons of fertilizer. The 
scarcity and consequent high price of herring since 1896 have greatly 
restricted the output of these factories. 

In the preparation of sardines in Europe the heads, viscera, and 
other waste parts are generally utilized in oil-production. They are 
cooked and pressed, the oil separated, and the refuse used for ferti- 
lizer. This oil is employed in leather-dressing, cordage-manufacture, 
the preparation of paints for exterior surfaces, and, in some country 
districts, for illumination. Unfortunately, we have no data bearing 
on the total extent of the output. 

The herring-oil industry in Japan is probably much older than its 
counterpart, the menhaden industry in America, but it was in a crude 
state up to about twenty years ago. The species of fish utilized — 
known as "iwashi" — is found in large schools along the Japanese 
coast, especiall}' on the northern side of the main island, and very large 
catches are made in the fall and winter, when the fish are fat. 

According to a recent report by Consul Van Buren, of Kanawaga, 
the principal fisheries are on the island of Yezo and the peninsula of 
Ava, near Yokohama. The method of extraction is similar to that 
employed in the United States. The fish are cooked and pressed and 
the residuum used for fertilizer. The process of refining is likewise 
similar to that employed in America, the oil being pressed " in small 
filtering bags of paper, outside of which are similar ones of strong 
cloth. A number of these are placed in a press, which forces Out the 
oil through the pores of this double envelope." 

Japanese herring oil contains an unusually large amount of foots, 
amounting to about 25 per cent, according to some refiners. On 
account of this, the weather-test of the crude oil is high, from 65° to 
70° F. Before the introduction of kerosene in Japan, refined herring 
oil was employed largely for illumination, but that is greatly reduced. 
It is now used locally in the manufacture of soap, in leather-dressing, 
in cordage-manufacture, as a body for paints, and for other technical 
purposes. 

Since 1881 large quantities have been exported to Europe, and also 
at intervals to the United States. At first it found little acceptance 
on account of its unpleasant odor, due to the crude method of extrac- 
tion. Another objection was the form of the packages, consisting of 
second-hand 5-gallon kerosene cans, which proved a nuisance to users 
of large quantities. The Hamburg market price is about 40 marks 
per 100 kilograms for the light oil and 37-£ for the brown. The foots, 
after the process of refining, sell at about 43 marks per 100 kilograms. 

It is only when domestic fish-oils are high that Japanese herring oil 



AQUATIC PRODUCTS IN ARTS AND INDUSTRIES. 239 

cau be profitably imported into this country, and on that account the 
imports fluctuate largely from year to year. The United States 
markets will receive it at 3 to 5 cents less per gallon than menhaden 
oil, but it can not be exported to this country Avith profit when the 
menhaden market is less than 26 cents per gallon, since the freights, 
insurance, import duties, brokerage, etc., would leave very little for 
the exporter. In 1885 the imports into this country amounted to 
101,205 gallons, valued at $24,832; in 1880, 5,010 gallons, valued at 
$786; then they were insignificant until 1893, when 191,852 gallons, 
worth $30,716, were received. In 1894 the imports were 156,456 gal- 
lons, worth $24,656. Some very choice specimens of refined oil have 
been received from Japan for exhibition purposes, thus demonstrating 
what the factories there are capable of producing, but some of the 
product sent here for consumption could be improved upon. 

OIL FROM WASTE FISH. 

In addition to menhaden and herring, several species of fishes not 
suitable or available for food are used in oil-production. The use of 
sea-robin, skates, and bellows- fish taken with menhaden is noted in 
the account of the menhaden industry. Of these species, the sea- 
robin is the most desirable for this purpose, yielding about 8 gallons 
of oil to the ton of fish. Skates and bellows-fish yield comparatively 
little oil, amounting sometimes to less than 1 gallon to the ton. This 
is combined with the menhaden oil, no noteworthy difference being 
apparent. These fish are purchased by the menhaden factorymen at 
50 to 75 cents per thousand, but it would not pay to handle them were 
it not for the fertilizer into which the solid tissue is converted after 
the extraction of the oil. The oil of the sun-fish (Mola) is used by 
some fishermen for the cure of rheumatism. 

On the coasts of Alaska and British Columbia, and to a less extent 
in Washington and Oregon, there is secured a fish closely allied to the 
smelt and capelin of the Atlantic coast, which is of considerable 
value owing to its oil-yielding properties. This is the eulachon or 
oulahon (Thaleichthys pacificus), called also the " candle-fish," for 
the reason that the natives use it as a candle in their dwellings, it 
being capable of ignition and burning with good illuminating quali- 
ties. For many years, according to Dr. Tarleton H. Bean, an excel- 
lent quality of oil has been made from it by the Indians both for their 
own use and for trade with the whites. The weather-test of this oil is 
very high, and at ordinary temperature it is opaque and butyraceous; 
indeed, among the Indians it supplies the place of butter. 

According to Dr. A. B. Lyons, of Detroit, eulachon oil contains 
"about 20 per cent of palmitic and stearic acids, 60 per cent of oleic 
acid, 13 per cent of an unsaponified substance, which is the most 
peculiar and interesting thing about it. This substance is of an oily 
consistency at ordinary temperature in summer, has much lower spe- 



240 BEPOET OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

cific gravity than oleic acid or any other constituent of ordinary fats 
(specific gravity 0.865 to 0.872 at 59° F.°), and seems to resemble the 
nnsaponifiable constituent of sperm oil." 6 According to Dr. Schaed- 
ler, when enlachon oil is mixed with sulphuric acid (1 volume of acid 
to 5 parts of oil) the temperature of the mixture rises to 121° F. , whereas 
under similar conditions cod oil rises to 235° F. This acid does not 
impart to enlachon oil the beautiful purple color that it does to cod 
oil, but a deep brown, subsequently inclining to reddish yellow. 
Under saponification the precipitated fatty acids amount to about 95 
per cent of the original bulk of the oil. Efforts have been made to 
introduce eulachon oil in the markets in competition with cod-liver 
oil for medicinal uses. It is claimed that it has nourishing and stimu- 
lating properties that adapt it to certain cases of malnutrition, and 
that it is more easy of digestion than cod-liver oil. 

Large quantites of lampreys are used for oil-rendering in southern 
Russia. Prior to 1870 the lamprey was not an article of commerce 
there, except a small quantity used locally as candles in much the 
same manner as the eulachon on the Alaskan coast. It is now taken 
in large numbers on the Volga and Kur rivers. A small quantity is 
pickled for food, but the greater portion of them are used in oil-man- 
ufacture. It is reported that between Tsaritsin and Yenotaj'evsk, on 
the Volga River, about 50,000,000 lampreys are taken annually, yield- 
ing about 100,000 gallons of oil. c When properly prepared this oil is 
clear and transparent, but it contains a large quantity of glue, and 
consequently it is quite viscous. 

OIL FROM FISH HEADS. 

During the last twenty years the market has received considerable 
oil made from refuse at the salmon canneries on the Pacific coast. 
This was first prepared, about 1876, at a factory above Astoria, on the 
Columbia River. The heads alone were utilized. These were pur- 
chased at the canneries at the nominal price of 50 cents to $1 per 1,000, 
that quantity yielding from 30 to 35 gallons of oil.'' The heads were 
cooked by steam and the oil expressed from the mass. This product 
was sold for use on the Pacific coast at prices varying from 22 to 35 
cents per gallon according to the supply and demand. The output 
of salmon oil was small until 1895, when somewhat more than 50,000 
gallons was received on the market. In 1899, according to Mr. W. A. 
Wilcox, two small establishments at Astoria for utilizing salmon ref- 
use prepared 19,600 gallons of oil and 140 tons of fertilizer, and one 
factory at Anacortes, Wash., produced 22,000 gallons of oil and 350 
tons of fertilizer. Only a small portion of this refuse on the coast is 
used. This oil compares favorabty with that from menhaden and, 
being a waste product, can be prepared at a very low price. The vis- 

a The specific gravity at 59° F. is given by Dr. Schaedler as 0.907. 

b Journ. Soc. Arts, 1KK4, p. 1107. 

c Fishing and Hunting in Russian Waters, p. 27. 

<l See Fishery Industries of the United States, Sec. V, vol. I, p. 750. 



AQUATIC PRODUCTS IN ARTS AND INDUSTRIES. 241 

Cera of salmon yields such a small quantity of oil that usually it is 
not profitable to attempt its extraction. 

In the United States the heads of halibut have been generally util- 
ized for oil-manufacture since 1870. They are of no value as food 
and -are discarded in dressing- the fish for market. In Gloucester and 
Boston, the headquarters of the halibut fishery, they are collected by 
the oil-manufacturers, cooked, and pressed in the same manner as 
other waste products. They are placed in large receptacles and 
treated with steam until the tissues are thoroughly disintegrated, 
when the oil and water are extracted by subjecting the mass to 
hydraulic pressure, 1,000 pounds yielding about 20 gallons of oil. 
The annual product in Boston and Gloucester is about 12,000 gallons, 
valued at about 30 cents per gallon. When refined by treating with 
caustic potash, refrigerated, pressed, and sun-bleached, it looks as fine 
as choice whale oil and is commonly sold as a substitute therefor and 
at about the same price. 

Sword-fish heads are usually very fat, a single head sometimes yield- 
ing one gallon of oil. As a rule, however, 100 heads yield about 65 
gallons of oil. It is extracted in precisely the same manner as in case 
of halibut-head oil. The quantity prepared is small, probably not 
exceeding 1,000 gallons annually on the entire New England coast. 
It is clear and sweet and is probably sold as whale or cod oil. 

The heads of other food-fish as a rule contain little oil. Cod and 
related species, for instance, contain practically none, and in utilizing 
them for fertilizer in this country, as well as in the British provinces 
and in Norway, no effort whatever is made to secure oil therefrom. 

OIL FROM VISCERA OF FISH. 

The quantity of viscera resulting from dressing food-fish at the 
markets, canneries, drying establishments, and the like in the United 
States amounts to upward of 100,000 tons annually. In certain 
species of fishes this material is very oleiferous, yielding as high as 
150 gallons to the ton; but in most species the viscera are so poor in 
oil as to preclude their use for this purpose, the possible yield in some 
instances being as low as 4 or 5 gallons to the ton of crude material. 

Probably the greatest yield of oil is from the viscera of the blue-fin 
white-fish and the chub or deep-water herring of Lake Michigan. The 
quantity ranges from 7 to 16 gallons of oil to the barrel and is much 
greater in winter than in summer. The average quantity of oil from 
the waste of lake trout is about 4 gallons to the barrel of 200 pounds. 
The yield from herring is small, probably not exceeding 1 gallon per 
barrel. The total quantity of oil contained in the viscera of all food- 
fish taken in the United States amounts probably to upward of 800,000 
gallons. Only a relatively small proportion of this oil is saved. 

Very few establishments exist in this country for utilizing the oil 
contained in the viscera of fish. A majority of these are on the shores 

F. C. 1902 16 



w 242 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

of the Great Lakes, especially Lake Michigan, owing to the fatness of 
the waste from chubs (Hoy's white-fish) secured in great quantities 
in that lake. These establishments are small, the necessary pots or 
kettles, boxes, barrels, etc., not exceeding $300 in value. The viscera 
are usually saved by the fishermen in tight barrels furnished by the 
oil men, who receive this refuse for carting it away; water is added, 
and the whole mass cooked in large open pots or kettles for a length 
of time ranging from three to six hours. As the oil accumulates at 
the surface it is skimmed off and stored in suitable receptacles, the 
solid matter being discarded as of no value. When a barrel or two 
of oil has accumulated, it is reboiled and coarsely refined. 

There are 8 or 10 of these oil-producing plants on the shores of the 
Great Lakes, and the total output probably does not exceed 20,000 
gallons, whereas the total possible is upward of 200,000 gallons. One 
plant at Sheboygan, Wis., receiving the viscera from a catch of 296,365 
pounds of blue-fin white-fish and chubs and of 110,260 pounds of trout 
in 1899, produced 1,180 gallons of oil, which sold for $301. 

Considerable oil exists in various parts of the body of sturgeon, 
especially in the viscera and under the dorsal scutes or bosses. In 
the sturgeon fisheries of Russia it is customary to extract this oil and 
use it not only technically but also for culinary purposes and for food, 
especially to soften caviar when it is somewhat dry. A few hundred 
gallons of sturgeon oil are prepared in the United States each year, but 
no special properties are attributed to it. It sells for about the same 
price as menhaden oil and is used for similar purposes. As a general 
rule, owing to its preparation from fresh materials, this oil is clear 
and bright and of pleasant odor and flavor. 

MISCELLANEOUS OILS. 

Alligator oil is much used among the hunters and swampers of the 
Gulf States. It is employed as a lubricant, an illuminant, for softening 
leather, and in the treatment of rheumatism, scrofula, etc. Although 
this oil is rarely met with in commerce, there are probably few profes- 
sional alligator hunters who do not lay in a supply each season. About 
fifteen years ago alligator oil was introduced in France for leather- 
currying and met with much favor, owing to its imparting greater 
weight to the leather than whale, seal, or cod oils. It was received 
from Mexico and Central America and sold in France at about one 
franc per kilogram, equivalent to about 70 cents per gallon. It is 
described as of a reddish color, of 0.928 specific gravity, and to con- 
sist chiefly of 60 per cent of olein, 32 per cent of margarine and stearin, 
H per cent of free oleic acid, and 0.02 of iodine/' 

In many parts of the world oil is extracted from various species of 
turtle or terrapin and used for medicinal or technical purposes. In 
4 he Chesapeake region certain remedial qualities are supposed to exist 
in the oil of the celebrated diamond-back terrapin. It has been 

a See Oil, Paint, and Drug Reporter, 1889, June 15, p. 55. 



AQUATIC PRODUCTS IN ARTS AND INDUSTRIES. 243 

recommended especially for rheumatism. But little of this oil finds 
its way into trade, being for the most part bottled and put away in 
the family medicine-chest for home use only. The oil from a variety of 
turtle found in Mauritius and the adjacent islands has had a local repu- 
tation for more than two centuries as an excellent remedy in several 
diseases. On the coast of India turtle oil is prepared for a number 
of purposes, especially in the composition of a cement or pitch for 
paying the seams of vessels. It has been highly recommended as a 
medicinal oil, principally in cases of scrofula and ana3inia. It is not 
often refined, notwithstanding that the percentage of foots is large. 
When bottled, the solid part is precipitated in an opaque and yellowish- 
white mass, leaving the oil transparent and brownish in color. When 
slightly warmed, as by exposure to the sun's rays, the two parts 
amalgamate. 

Considerable quantities of turtle oil are prepared in the West Indies, 
on the northern coast of South America, on the Seychelles in the Indian 
Ocean, etc. Not only is the fat of the animal used for this purpose, 
but likewise the eggs, of which large numbers are secured on the 
Amazon and the Orinoco. It is said that a single turtle may yield 6 
gallons of oil, and that 3,000 eggs are required for an equal quantity. 
The eggs are crushed, covered with water, and submitted to the heat 
of the sun, whereupon the oil quickly floats to the surface. Accord- 
ing to consular reports, Para receives upward of 50,000 gallons of this 
oil during some seasons, and a much larger quantity is consumed by 
the natives inhabiting the shores frequented by the animals. 

Turtle oil is used for culinary purposes, and likewise for illumina- 
tion, lubrication, and currying. 

While the oils of the dugong and of the manatee are comparatively 
unknown in the United States, they are of considerable local impor- 
tance in several tropical and semitropical countries, especially in 
Australia, New Zealand, and Brazil. The oil is obtained from the 
blubber situated beneath the skin, and each animal yields 5 to 20 
gallons. No difference has been pointed out in the characteristics 
of the oils of these animals; although, obtained in widely separated 
countries, it is natural that different uses should have developed. 

Dugong oil has no prominent odor, is of a pleasant flavor, and when 
in good condition is almost as limpid as water. It is used in place of 
butter and sometimes in preference thereto, and as a cooking oil it is 
said to be unrivaled; but it is employed principally as a medicine, its 
properties resembling those of cod-liver oil, without the unpleasant 
effects of the latter. It is valued by some medical practitioners in 
Australia and New Zealand even more highly than cod-liver oil. Dr. 
Hobbs, of Queensland, was the first to draw attention to its virtues in 
Australia, receiving a prize medal at the Sidney Exhibition in 185-1. 
By some persons dugong oil is believed to be efficacious in the treat- 
ment of debility, dyspepsia, chronic dysentery, bronchitis, etc. Occa- 
sionally it may be found in this country put up in bottles with labels 



244 .REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OE FISH AJSTD FISHERIES. 

indicative of an oriental origin, and recommended as a cure for con- 
sumption and diseases of the chest and back. 

The oil of the manatee is one of the few blubber oils which does not 
become rancid on exposure to the sun, and on the contrary acquires 
a fine flavor and agreeable odor through such exposure. On the west 
coast of Africa, in the West Indies, Guiana, and Brazil, it forms an 
important item of domestic commerce; it is used as a lubricator, as an 
illuminant, in cooking, and for the table. 

Speaking of the American species (Manatus americanus), Dr. R. 
Brookes in his " Natural History" states: 

The fat which lies between the cuticle and the skin, when exposed to the sun, 
has a fine smell and taste, and far exceeds the fat of any sea animal. It has this 
peculiar property, that the heat of the sun will not spoil it, nor make it grow ran- 
cid. The taste is like the oil of sweet almonds, and it will serve very well in all 
cases instead of butter. Any qiiantity may be taken inwardly with safety, for it 
has no other effect than keeping the body open. The fat of the tail is of a harder 
consistence, and when boiled is more delicate than the other. 

The fat obtained from beaver is made into an ointment by the 
Indians, to which they attribute many curative and medicinal proper- 
ties, especially its power to prevent frost bites, the anointed parts of 
the body not being affected even when exposed to the most extreme 
cold. An old treatise of 1685, credited to Joanne Mario, attributes 
marvelous curative properties to beaver oil: 

It is efficacious in all maladies which affect the nerves. It is useful in epilepsy, 
and prevents apoplexy and lethargy; stops spasms and convulsions, and is of 
great help in giddiness, toothache, asthma, dysentery, and strains. 

On the Macquarie Islands, the coast of Patagonia, and several other 
places in the cold regions of the Southern Hemisphere, large num- 
bers of penguin are caught and used in oil rendering. On Macquarie 
Island the royal penguin and the king penguin are used, while on 
the Patagonian coast the jackass penguin is the principal species, 
with smaller numbers of macaronis and red bills. These birds are 
found on the shores in great numbers and are easily killed with clubs. 
In some localities the breast skin, with the attached blubber, is the 
only part cooked, the rest being discarded; but usually the entire 
body is placed in pots and cooked. When thoroughly disintegrated 
the mass is pressed and the oil thus extracted. 

SPERMACETI REFINING AND MANUFACTURE. 

Spermaceti is the solid portion of the crude oil of sperm whales and 
of certain other cetaceans. As noted in the chapter on sperm-oil ren- 
dering, it occurs in a state of solution in special cavities of the skull and 
to a much less extent in various parts of the body, especially in the 
core of the dorsal hump. The process of its extraction and the sepa- 
ration of the oil therefrom have already been noted in the account of 
rendering sperm oil, and it now remains to describe the subsequent 
treatment of the crude and refined spermaceti. 



AQUATIC PRODUCTS IN ARTS AND INDUSTRIES. 245 

After the extraction of the " taut-pressed-oil " the crude spermaceti 
is heated in vats or tanks, refined, and " whitened" by the introduc- 
tion of some alkali, as a weak solution of caustic soda or caustic pot- 
ash, to saponify any adhering oil. Care must be taken during this 
process that the spermaceti does not saponify, any tendency to do so 
being overcome by the addition of brine. The refined product is then 
molded into suitable shapes for marketing. Most of it is formed 
into blocks measuring 10 by 12 by 14 inches, and weighing about 62 
pounds each. It is also molded into cakes weighing 1 pound, half- 
pound, quarter-pound, or of any other desired weight. 

Spermaceti is white, semitransparent, unctuous or talcose to the 
touch, of a slight fatty taste and odor. A fracture of a cake reveals 
broadly foliated, crystallized pieces resembling quartz. According to 
Brannt, its specific gravity is 0.943 at 59° F. It yields nothing to 
water, and very little to cold alcohol, but is readity soluble in ether, 
chloroform, and bisulphide of carbon. It melts at about 125° F. and 
congeals immediately below the melting point. Its component parts, 
according to the same chemist, are carbon, 80.03 per cent; hydrogen, 
13.25 per cent, and oxygen, 6.72 per cent. 

It is not easy to adulterate spermaceti without detection, since its 
characteristic properties are readily diminished, the compound being 
harder, with decreased nacreous luster and smaller foliated^crystals. 
Tallow is readily detected by the odor given off in melting, and also 
by the compound making fat stains on paper, which is not the case 
with pure spermaceti. Stearin renders it harder and smaller foli- 
ated, and its presence is readily detected by boiling the sample in a 
soda solution, effervescence occurring in the adulterated article. If 
exposed to the air for a long time spermaceti becomes yellowish and 
somewhat rancid, but when remelted and treated with diluted caustic 
soda or potash it regains its original condition. 

In the early history of the sperm-whale fishery spermaceti was con- 
sidered of great value for medicinal purposes, and was recommended 
for many ills of the body, but was employed principally for internal 
applications, especially in cases of inflammation. It was so much in 
demand before the full development of the fishery as to sell at times for 
its weight in silver. As it became better known, however, it occupied 
a minor j)osition in materia medica, chiefly in the preparation of oint- 
ments, and its principal use was in candle-making. 

The beginning of candle-making in America dated from about 1750. 
The number of factories increased rapidly, and in 1761 there was a 
total of eight in New England and one in Philadelphia. In 1772 the 
first candle factory was established at Nantucket, then the headquar- 
ters of the whale fishery, and the number increased until there were 
10 in existence on the island in 1792, and an equal number then existed 
at New Bedford/' The business of preparing spermaceti was then 
separate from the general whale-oil refining industry, the candle- 



«New Bedford Medley, Nov. 30, 179a. 



246 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

makers purchasing the crude bead matter only. But gradually the 
two industries were combined 1<> their mutual advantage. When the 
sperm-whale fishery developed to its full capacity, the production of 
spermaceti was very large, averaging more than 3,000,000 pounds 
annually from 1835 to 1845. With the decrease in extent of the fish- 
ery, there was a corresponding decrease in the yield of spermaceti, 
reaching its lowest product in 1890, when less than 200,000 pounds 
were prepared. 

Spermaceti is among the very best materials for candle-making, the 
product being beautifully semitransparent and nacreous, burning with 
great regularity and with white light of high illuminating power; 
yet owing to the cheapness of other materials, especially paraffin, 
only a small percentage of the candles used at present are made of 
this material. To reduce the tendency of spermaceti to crystallize in 
molding and consequently lower its friability, it is customary to add 
a little paraffin wax, tallow, stearin, beeswax, or cerasin. The clear 
natural color of the refined spermaceti is usually preferred in candles, 
but sometimes coloring material is introduced, in so small a quantity, 
however, as not to destroy the transparency of the spermaceti. A 
yellow tint is imparted by adding gamboge, a red by carmine, and a 
blue bjr prussian blue. Owing to the cheapness and excellence of 
paraffin candles, the consumption of spermaceti in candle-making 
has been greatly reduced. The quantity thus used at the present 
time bears no relation to the extensive use of petroleum wax for that 
purpose, the consumption of which in Great Britain alone amounts to 
upward of 50,000 tons annually. 

Sperm candles are at present the standard used by the principal 
gas-examiners for photometric measurements. The rules for the 
preparation of standard sperm candles for photometric purposes, 
published by the Metropolitan Gas Referees, of London, prescribe 
that, for the purpose of rendering the spermaceti less brittle, best air- 
bleached beeswax, melting at about 144° F., shall be used exclusively, 
and that the proportion of beeswax to spermaceti shall not be less than 
3 per cent nor more than 44 per cent; the spermaceti itself to be so 
refined as to have a melting-point lying between 112° and 115° F. rt 

The production of spermaceti in 1901 in the United States was 
about 400,000 pounds, worth $100,000. Of this amount probably 70 
per cent was exported to Germany, England, and other foreign coun- 
tries. Its principal foreign use is in the making of candles, large 
quantities being made in England and Germany for ecclesiastical use, 
especially in southern Europe. Minor uses are as an ointment for 
medicinal purposes, in laundries for producing a polish on linen, and 
for self-lubricating cartridges. Of the domestic consumption, prob- 
ably 5,000 pounds are used in candle-making and the rest for medici- 
nal and industrial purposes. 



"Journal Society Chemical Industry, 1894. p. l>5. 



Report U. S. F. C. 1902. 



Plate 18. 




SPERMACETI REFINING. VAT FOR BOILING AND REMOVING SEDIMENT. 




PACKAGES OF BLOCKS, CAKES, AND CANDLES OF SPERMACETI. 



AQUATIC PRODUCTS IN ARTS AND INDUSTRIES. 247 

During the year 1901 the value of spermaceti greatly decreased, 
sales during November being made at 22 cents per pound, the lowest 
price reached in the last ten years. 

No exact figures are available to show the product of spermaceti 
during a period of years, but the approximate yield may be deter- 
mined from the figures on page 204, showing the yield of sperm oil, 
remembering that about 25 pounds of spermaceti is obtained from a 
barrel, or 31£ gallons, of sperm oil. It should be noted, however, that 
considerable crude sperm oil is exported and the spermaceti extracted 
abroad. 

AMBERGRIS. 

Ambergris is a wax-like substance found at rare intervals, but some- 
times in relatively large quantities, in the intestines of the sperm whale. 
With the exception of choice pearls and coral, it is the highest-priced 
product of the fisheries, selling at upward of $40 per ounce. It has 
been a valuable object of commerce for hundreds of years. It appears 
to have been prized first by the Arabians, by whom it was called amber, 
and by this name it was first known among the Europeans. The 
name was later extended to the fossilized gum, the two being dis- 
tinguished by their respective colors as amber gris and amber jaune. 

In the writings of early travelers to the shores of the Indian Ocean 
and to southern Asia, references to ambergris are by no means infre- 
quent. Before the time of Marco Polo (1254-1324), Zanzibar was 
famous for its ambergris. So plentiful was it on the shores of Indian 
Ocean in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries that the name was 
given to various islands, capes, and mountain peaks of that region. 
It was also found on certain shores of the Pacific, notably the coast of 
Japan. From their station in Batavia the Dutch traders kept Europe 
supplied, and also exported it to Asiatic markets. 

Though ambergris was a valuable commercial article, little or noth- 
ing was known of its origin before the eighteenth century. Some sup- 
posed it to be the "solidified foam of the sea," others that it exuded 
from trees and flowed into the sea, or that it was a "fungoidal growth 
of the ocean analogous to that on trees." 

It is now generally conceded that ambergris is generated in either 
sex of the sperm whale, but far more frequently in the male, and is the 
result of a diseased state of the animal, caused possibly by a biliary 
irritation, as the individuals from which it is secured are almost 
invariably of a sickly appearance and sometimes greatly emaciated. 
It is not of frequent occurrence, many whalemen with half a century's 
experience never having seen any. The victim of the malady may 
eject the morbific substance, thus furnishing the lumps which have 
been found on the shores or floating on the seas frequented by sperm 
whales. 

Although ambergris is of such rare occurrence, the sperm -whalers 
always search for it, especially in diseased or emaciated whales. It 



248 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

is I'ou ixl in all parts of the intestinal canal, but more generally at 
2 to 6 feet from the vent. The instrument used in the search is a 
common cutting-spade. The presence of the prize is detected by the 
peculiar feeling or impression on striking it, very much like the cut- 
ting of cork or rubber, and also by its sticking or adhering to the 
spade, or by its floating out upon the water when the intestines are 
opened. 

Ambergris occurs in rough lumps varying in weight from less than 
1 pound to 150 pounds or more. It generally contains fragments of 
the beak or mandible of squid or cuttle-fish, which constitutes the prin- 
cipal food of the sperm whale. When first removed from the animal 
it is comparatively soft and emits a repugnant odor, but upon expos- 
ure to the air it grows harder, lighter in color, and assumes the 
appearance it presents when found floating on the ocean. It is light 
in weight, opaque, wax-like, and inflammable. Its color ranges from 
black to whitish gray, and is often variegated with light stripes and 
spots resembling marble somewhat. When dried — the only curing 
process it undergoes — it yields a subtle odor faintly resembling that of 
honey. It softens under heat like wax, and in that condition may be 
easily penetrated by a needle. A proof of its good quality is a polished 
needle meeting with no obstacle when thrust through it, and if the 
needle be red hot the substance will exude an oil. It fuses at 140° 
to 150° F., and when heated to 212° F. it dissolves into a blackish, 
thick oil, and gradually evaporates, leaving no trace of its presence. 
When stored for a length of time it becomes covered with dust like 
chocolate. It contains some moisture that gradually evaporates, 
reducing its weight, but increasing its intrinsic value. 

The amount of ambergris produced annually from all sources varies 
greatly, scarcely an ounce being obtained in some 3 T ears, while in others 
the product may exceed $50,000 in value. The small compass within 
which a very valuable quantity may be stored without attracting 
attention, and the ease with which it may be brought in where it is 
deemed advisable to preserve secrecy concerning a find, render it 
exceedingly difficult to follow closely the imports of the article. How- 
ever, a brief account is here given of some of the principal masses 
obtained. In this compilation we are indebted to Mr. Francis H. 
Sloan and to Messrs. J. and W. R. Wing for information. 

Probably the most valuable piece secured previous to the last cen. 
tury was a 182-pound lump purchased in 1693 from the King of 
Tydore by the Dutch East India. Compan} 7 for the sum of 11,000 
thalers. Its origin is unknown. Probably it was found afloat on the 
sea or drifted ashore. It is stated that the Grand Duke of Tuscany 
offered 50,000 crowns for it — with what success is unknown. 

An American fisherman is credited with finding a piece that weighed 
130 pou nds in a whale secured in 1782 about 150 miles southwest of 
Windward Islands. This sold for £500, the low price leading one to 
fancy that the reported weight is exaggerated. 



AQUATIC PRODUCTS IN ARTS AND INDUSTRIES. 249 

Captain Coffin, a British whaling master, stated before a committee 
of the House of Commons in 1791 that — 

He had lately brought home 362 ounces, troy, of this valuable substance. He 
had taken this from the anus of a female sperm whale captured off the coast of 
Guinea, and which he stated was very bony and sickly. At the time he brought 
this quantity to England the ambergris was selling for 25s. an ounce, but he 
stated that he sold his for 19s. 6rf. per ounce to a broker, who exported it to Tur- 
key, G-ermany, and France, among the natives of which it appears to have been 
long celebrated for its aphrodisiacal properties." 

The schooner Watchman, of Nantucket, is credited with bringing 
home from the Bahama Islands, in 1858, the largest mass ever found, 
weighing nearly 600 pounds. This was on the market for many 
months, as the owners were unwilling to divide it and dealers were 
adverse to taking the whole lot, but finally it was sold for $10,500. 

The bark Sea Fox, of New Bedford, in 1866, secured a 30-barrel 
sperm whale off the eastern coast of Arabia. A long-handled cutting- 
spade was thrust into the region of the anus and a piece of ambergris 
fell out. Some of the men proceeded to cut open the large intestine, 
which was about 10 feet long and 3| inches in diameter, and for the 
entire length it was literally filled and closely packed with ambergris. 
They cleand out the stomach and found two large pieces weighing, 
respectively, 40 and 41 pounds. The ambergris in the large intestine, 
to all appearance, was originally composed of globular pieces, which, 
owing to pressure from all sides, were compressed into irregular shapes. 
The two large pieces found in the stomach were of a different shape 
from those found in the intestine. They measured about 36 inches in 
circumference, were flat on both sides, about 8 inches in thickness, 
and of a superior quality. The entire mass weighed 150 pounds and 
was sold to the Arabs of Zanzibar for $10,000 in gold. 

During the year 1878 the bark Minnesota, in the same locality, found 
18 pounds of ambergris in a whale, which was sold in Zanzibar to the 
agents of the Sultan for $150 per pound. 

The bark Adeline Gibbs in 1878 brought in the most valuable lot of 
ambergris obtained by an American vessel up to that time. It was 
taken from a 50-barrel bull sperm whale south of St. Helena, weighed 
132f pounds, and was sold for $23,231. This piece was the only one 
that a fleet of 12 vessels had taken in 45 years. About the same time 
the Bartholomew Gosnold secured 125 pounds in the vicinity of New 
Holland, which sold for about $20,000, and the Lettitia brought in 100 
pounds, worth $17,500. 

In 1882, the bark FalconAn latitude 16° 55' S. and longitude 11° 00' 
W., secured a 28-barrel male sperm whale, which was apparently in 
healthy condition and without unusual appearance. A spade was 
accidently thrust into the abdomen, revealing the presence of amber- 
gris in the viscera. A large piece of an ovate form, weighing about 



a Beale on the Sperm Whale, p. 183. 



250 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

60 pounds, and several smaller pieces, irregularly shaped, were found 
in the intestinal canal. Some of the ambergris was brownish black 
on the outside and some of a grayish yellow cast; the exterior coating 
was filled with the mandibles of squid. The gross weight was 136 
pounds, and it sold for $14,000. 

Doubtless the most valuable lot ever secured was a mass weighing 
162 pounds 11 ounces, obtained in 1891, known as the "Bank" lot, 
which sold in London for about £10,000. The following communica- 
tion from the brokers who effected the sale of this remarkable find 
furnishes an excellent description of the lump and of the state of the 
ambergris market: 

About the end of August, 1891, a gentleman called to consult us as to the best 
means of disposing of some ambergris which had been consigned to his firm. We 
suggested that if it were brought to us we could examine it and report upon its 
value, but when we were informed that the case which contained it weighed close 
on 224 pounds and was too large to go inside a cab our first feeling was one of 
incredulity as to the consignment being ambergris at all. It was finally decided 
that the case should remain in the strong room of the bank in which it had been 
deposited for safe custody and that we should go there to inspect it. This we did, 
and were shown a box measuring about 2 feet 4 inches in each direction and which 
we were told had with its contents been insured for £10,000. 

In the presence of the merchant who had consulted us and the bank officials the 
lid of the case was opened, with the immediate result that everyone beat a hasty 
retreat from its vicinity, for the horrible smell which issued from the box was 
overpowering. When the odor had lost somewhat of its intensity, we began to 
take out the packing and found that the case (which was tin-lined) contained one 
huge mass of a blackish substance, measuring 6 feet 4 inches in circumference, 
nearly spherical, and which was undoubtedly ambergris. On being turned out of 
the case it was foimd to be saturated with moisture, as were the packings of paper 
and old gunny which had been put around it to prevent it from chafing to pieces 
during the voyage; and it was the liberation of the gases generated by the salt 
water and the animal matter which had caused the stench alluded to. By proper 
treatment this smell was eventually completely got rid of, and the ambergris 
obtained in marketable condition. The mass was next weighed and the certificate 
signed by the interested parties, the exact weight being at that time 2,603 ounces, 
or 1G2 pounds 11 ounces. This is probably the largest piece of ambergris which 
has ever been seen by anyone living, and approaches nearly in weight to the lump 
of 182 pounds purchased by the Dutch East India Company two hundred years ago. 

The next thing to do was to split the lump, so as to see what the interior was 
like. This was accomplished with the aid of long chisels and crowbars. We then 
saw that the substance consisted of layers or lamina? rolled around a central core, 
the laminse varying a good deal in texture, color, and flavor. Speaking gener- 
ally, the outer layers were thin, friable, and shelly; dark, almost black in 
color, and mixed to a considerable extent with the beaks of the cuttle-fish, on 
which the whale feeds. As the layers approached the center tliey were denser, 
grayer in color, thicker, and of better flavor, until the core itself was reached. 
This core really consisted of two pieces, one the shape of a rifle bullet, but with a 
deepisli depression like the " kickup" of a wine bottle in the base. It was from 
10 to 11 inches high, with a diameter of about 6 inches at the bottom, tapering 
upward to about 2 inches at the top, which was slightly flattened. It was detached 
from the surrounding layers with the greatest ease, and stood alone, a pure, solid 
lump of the finest gray ambergris, weighing 83i ounces. Beside this magnificent 



AQUATIC PKODUCTS IN ARTS AND INDUSTRIES. 251 

piece was a smaller one, almost spherical in shape and about the size of a very 
large orange. It was rather darker in color and not of quite so fine a flavor, but 
was as easily detached from the surrounding layers as the other. Neither of these 
pieces contained any of the beaks which were so common in the outer layers, 
and it is almost needless to say that they realized by far the highest price which 
was obtained for any portion of the mass. The layers nearest to the core were of 
much finer flavor than the outer and darker. One of them was quite 4 inches in 
thickness, and the ambergris of which it consisted was of a silvery-gray color, 
different from the whitish gray of the core, and was of lower specific gravity. 
The layer outside this again was striated in places with the darker exterior, and 
the beaks began to show, though not to the same extent as in the black, shelly, 
exterior layers. 

It is a matter of some regret to us that we did not secure a photograph of this 
extraordinary lump, but the fact weighed heavily upon us that if the real truth 
about it leaked out the depression of the market would be so great that we should 
not be able to do justice to our clients , and, consequently, as few people as possible 
were let into the secret. It is true that reports about it were rife for a month or 
two, but as nothing authentic could be ascertained they gradually died out, and 
we have ourselves been repeatedly assured that the thing was a myth altogether, 
one gentleman going so far as to tell one of our partners, about three months 
afterwards, that he held three-fourths of the total quantity of ambergris in 
London, not knowing that we were controlling about 1| hundredweight. 

Probably the finest lot of ambergris received in America was taken 
in 1894 by the schooner Adelia Chase from a 50-barrel whale near 
Cape de Verde Islands. It weighed 109f pounds and sold for about 
.$26,000, the best parts fetching $350 per pound. No large finds have 
been reported since 1894. In 1899 50 pounds of poor quality was 
secured by the bark Charles W. Morgan off the coast of Japan. In 
1900 the Morning Star secured 7 pounds, and in 1901 the same ship 
brought in 20 pounds of medium quality. 

Ambergris has been used for centuries in the sacerdotal rites of the 
church, and, in connection with fragrant gums, it was formerly burnt 
in the apartments of royalty. It was formerly used in cookery, espe- 
cially in the East, being added to flavor certain dishes. This custom 
spread through western Europe to a limited extent. Macaulay refers 
to rumors in connection with the death of Charles II of England that 
"something had been put into his broth, something added to his 
favorite dish of egg and ambergris." The principal use of amber- 
gris, however, was as a medicine and as a perfume, especially in Asia 
and Africa. Until recently it held a place in pharmacy, being regarded 
as a cardiac and antispasmodic, somewhat analogous to musk, and was 
recommended in typhoid fevers and various nervous diseases. 

The principal and almost the only use of ambergris at present is in 
the preparation of fine perfumes, furnishing an important ingredient 
in the production of choice bouquet of "extracts." It also acts as a 
"fixer" and serves to impart homogeneity and permanency to the 
different ingredients employed. For perfumers' use it is generally 
made into an essence or tincture by dissolving 4 ounces in a gallon of 
alcohol. This is facilitated by first crushing and mixing it with sand. 



252 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

Perfumers exercise much care in the selection of the ambergris 
which they use. The wholesale dealer grades his stock of the material 
according to its odor, appearance, etc. But this is by no means suffi- 
cient for the trained olfactory sense of the perfume-manufacturer. 
Before determining the use of a special lot he tests it by his own 
standards, and these tests may extend over a month, especially for 
durability of perfume. Some manufacturers prize most highly those 
lots and grades which another manufacturer would not accept. The 
selection of just the proper quality to produce the desired bouquet 
forms one of the niceties of the perfumer's art. 

The value of ambergris depends largely on its scarcity at the time 
and its freedom from impurities. During the last thirty years it has 
varied in price from $5 to $40 per ounce. At the present time it is 
quoted at $8 to $30 per ounce. In 1880 crude ambergris brought home 
by the whalers was sold at $10 an ounce and the dried article at $20 
an ounce. In 1870 the value, dried, was $25 an ounce. In the London 
Price Current of Colonial Produce in 1807 ambergris is quoted at 40s. 
to 45s. per ounce for "gra}', fine." Considering the respective pur- 
chasing powers of money two centuries ago and at the present time, 
that price is quite equal to the average value in recent years. 



Repoit U. S. F. C. 1902. 



Plate 19. 



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AQUATIC PRODUCTS AS FERTILIZERS. 



GENERAL REVIEW. 

A fertilizer is any substance added to the soil for the purpose of 
producing- a better growth of crops. The food required by plants is 
supplied in part from the atmosphere, but principally from the soil. 
If the supply of any one of the necessary ingredients be deficient, a 
small crop is the result ; and the purpose of fertilizers is to supply the 
plant-foods lacking in the soil. 

The general use of fertilizers is of comparatively recent origin, yet 
the preparation of these substances supports an extensive industry, 
employing a large amount of capital and many thousands of men. 
Compared with the immense quantities of barnyard materials, phos- 
phate rocks, etc., the use of aquatic products for fertilizer is relatively 
small, yet it is by no means unimportant in the fishery industries. 

Fish, seaweeds, shells of mollusks and crustaceans, and various 
other aquatic products have long been known to possess rich fertiliz- 
ing properties. All kinds of fish can be used for this purpose; but, 
owing to the greater value of choice species as food, only the non- 
edible ones and the waste parts are utilized. The menhaden is the 
only fish taken in great quantities in this country especially for con- 
version into fertilizer. The output of this species is very large, 
amounting to 30 per cent of the total catch of fish in the United 
States, and its capture maintains one of the most extensive and vig- 
orously prosecuted of the American fisheries. Compared with that 
from menhaden, the quantity of fertilizer made from other fish is 
small, and only such are used for this purpose as can not be profitably 
employed in any other way. 

The original use of fish for fertilizing purposes was in a fresh or 
green state, and they were added to the soil directly after their cap- 
ture, although, of course, no special effort was made to preserve their 
freshness. Before the advent of the colonists in America, the Indians 
were accustomed to manure their small crops of corn by placing one 
or more fish in each hill or by spreading them broadcast over the 
field, and this practice was followed by the early settlers. Owing to 
the original richness of the soil and the limited agricultural opera- 
tions, the use of fertilizers was of comparatively small extent until 

253 



254 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

the latter part of the eighteenth century. It appears that fish were 
then employed for this purpose all along the Atlantic seaboard from 
Maine to North Carolina wherever they were obtainable in sufficient 
quantities. 

Fresh fish contain usually from (55 to 80 per cent of water and from 
1 to 16 per cent of oil. Neither of these has any value as a fertilizer. 
On the contrary they decrease the portability and storage qualities of 
the constituents, and the presence of the oil is prejudicial to the 
decomposition of the fertilizer when applied to the soil. 

Early in the nineteenth century the fi cTl ormen occasionally extracted 
the oil from the fish when the l^vcev were unusually fat, thus remov- 
ing an injurious ingredient, for which valuable uses were found. 
This resulted gradually in the establishment of factories for removing 
the oil, and likewise most of the water, so that the fertilizing sub- 
stance might be in better condition for transportation. At present 
most of the fish used for fertilizer are treated in this manner, even 
the farmer-fishermen finding it more profitable to sell their catch at 
the factories and purchase the scrap ; but large quantities of fish in 
a fresh state are yet used precisely as was the custom three hundred 
years ago. 

Owing to its great abundance, combined with its nonedible quali- 
ties, the menhaden is the principal fish used for fertilizer in this 
country, and the quantity used annually is about 800,000,000 in num- 
ber, or 240,000 tons round or live weight. Of these fully 99 per cent 
are handled at the factories, and the remainder are used in a fresh or 
greeu state. With the menhaden are taken some skates, sea-robins, 
bellows-fish, and other waste fish. Aside from a few that may be 
taken with the menhaden, and occasionally some river herring or 
alewives, no other fish are captured in the United States especially 
for fertilizer to any great extent. 

Formerly nearly all the waste produced in dressing fish for market 
was thrown away as useless; but in recent years, in the fisheries as in 
other industries, the utilization of waste material has been made a 
subject of careful investigation, and many substances formerly con- 
sidered refuse are now found to contain elements of commercial value. 
The dressings at the fish markets and at the fishing centers, the refuse 
of canneries and boneless-fish factories, and even the carcasses of 
whales are turned to account in the production of fertilizer. In addi- 
tion to these materials, the farmers use large quantities of seaweeds, 
horseshoe crabs, oyster shells, clam shells, etc. 

. The total annual product of menhaden fertilizer in the United 
States according to the latest returns amounted to 85,830 tons, for 
which the producers received $1,539,810. It is difficult to approximate 
the quantity of other fishery products used for fertilizer, but it is esti- 
mated that the waste fish of all kinds amount to about 20,000 tons, 
worth $200,000; horseshoe crabs, shells of shrimp, etc., 800 tons, worth 



AQUATIC PRODUCTS AS FERTILIZERS. 255 

$16,000; shells and agricultural lime, 60,000 tons, worth $150,000, and 
seaweeds, 250,000 tons, worth $312,500, making a total estimated out- 
put for this country per year of 416,630 tons, worth $2,118,310. 

THE MENHADEN INDUSTRY. 

The menhaden belongs to the Clupeidw or herring family, and is 
about the size of the common herring of the New England coast, but 
somewhat deeper and more robust. It is not considered a food-fish and 
is rarely eaten, owing to the abundance of bones, although the flavor 
is not unpleasant. However, it is one of the most important of all 
of the species on the coast, being the principal source of bait during 
the summer, in addition to its use in the manufacture of oil and 
fertilizer. 

The menhaden occurs all along the Atlantic coast of the United 
States from Maine to Texas, and most abundantly between Cape Cod 
and Cape Henry, except that during certain years it seeks the coast 
of Maine in enormous quantities. It appears on the approach of 
warm weather, ranging from March and April in Chesapeake Bay to 
May and June on the Maine coast, and remains until late in autumn. 
Its bathymetrical range extends from the inland limits of salt water 
to the Gulf Stream, but probably 95 per cent of the catch is made 
within 2 miles of the coastal line. It is captured principally by means 
of purse seines, operated from steam vessels with carrying capacity 
for several hundred thousand fish. 

About a quarter of a century ago several important reports relative 
to the menhaden were issued. The first was that of Messrs. Board- 
man and Atkins, made to the Maine board of agriculture in 1875. a 
Three years later was issued the report of Mr. Luther Maddox. b 
Each of these related especially to conditions existing in the State of 
Maine. 

In 1879 the United States Eish Commission published the important 
report of Dr. G. Brown Goode, containing voluminous notes on the 
natural and economic history of the menhaden, with many extracts 
from previous reports on the subject." 

Many changes have been made in the methods of utilizing the 
menhaden since those papers were written, but they are yet the prin- 
cipal authorities in regard to the natural history of the subject, 
and the present writer is prepared to add little. Indeed, such 
additional matter would scarcely be in place in this paper, which is 
restricted to the economic use of menhaden in the preparation of oil 
and fertilizer. 

«The Menhaden and Herring Fisheries of Maine as Sources of Fertilization, by Samuel L. 
Boardman and Charles G. Atkins, 1875, pp. 67. 

b The Menhaden Fishery of Maine. Portland, 1S78, pp. 46. 

"The Natural and Economic History of the American Menhaden, by G. Brown Goode. Report 
U. S. Fish Commission, 1877, pp. 1-529. 



256 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 
HISTORY AND EXTENT OF THE INDUSTRY. 

A century and more ago, when a much larger number of the home 
requisites wore prepared by consumers than is the case at the present 
t ime, it was a part of the duties of many farmers along the Middle 
Atlantic coast to devote a few weeks each spring to taking menhaden 
for the purpose of fertilizing the cultivated land. Large shore seines 
made of cotton twine were employed, and in some localities these 
were owned jointly by several farmers of the vicinity. The length of 
some of these seines was 3,000 feet or more, and frequently the catch 
at a single haul numbered several hundred thousand fish, although 
the average quantity was nearer 10,000 or 12,000. This farmer-fishery 
has continued up to the present time, but its extent is now very much 
reduced, owing to the ease with which prepared fertilizers may be 
purchased. 

Following upon the development of this use of fresh or green men- 
haden came the discovery that the oil was valuable for painting, 
leather-dressing, etc. Some of the farmers would provide a few casks 
or hogsheads which they partly filled with fish, adding water to cover 
them, and with weighted boards placed on top to keep the mass down. 
On the disintegration of the fish through putrefaction they were occa- 
sionally stirred with a long pole to break up the mass and liberate the 
oil, which floated to the surface of the water and was skimmed off from 
time to time. After several weeks the oil ceased to flow, and the 
residuary mass was used as fertilizer. For many years the extent of 
this business was very small and the product was entirely for home use. 

The first improvement in the above process consisted in boiling the 
fish in kettles to facilitate the extraction of the oil, the boiled fish 
being then placed in casks, as above noted, resulting in a much larger 
product. By 1830 the cooking of the fish was quite general among 
the few persons engaged in extracting oil from menhaden. The oil 
was dark and crude, and used only for rough painting and leather- 
dressing, the market being restricted to the neighbors of the manu- 
facturers. The use of kettles, however, involved a great waste of heat, 
and the business was of very little consequence until the introduction 
of steam in cooking the fish. The first steam factory, according to 
the late Capt, E. T. Deblois, was a small one built in 1841 near Ports- 
mouth, R. I. 

In 1850 Daniel Wells built a factory on Shelter Island, New York. 
That was the first factory of considerable size on the coast, and the 
quantity of fish handled amounted to 2,000,000 or 3,000,000 in number 
annually. In 1853 Mr. Wells built a new factory on Shelter Island, 
and the old one was removed to Groton, Conn., being the first steam 
factory in that State. The first factory in Maine was put up in 1863 
at South Bristol, and in I860 eleven factories were built in Maine. In 
1869 the factory at South Bristol, Me., was removed to Fairport, Va., 
and was the first factory in that State. 



AQUATIC PRODUCTS AS FERTILIZERS. 257 

In the meantime the purse-seine had been improved and adopted in 
the menhaden fishery, permitting the capture of fish in much larger 
quantities, and without which the menhaden industry could never 
have reached its present proportions. The next improvement con- 
sisted in pressing- the scrap to extract a greater percentage of the oil. 
The first press, operated by hand power, was built by Charles Tuthill 
at the Wells factory, on Shelter Island, in 1856. This worked so sat- 
isfactorily that soon all the factories were pressing the scrap, and in 
1858 hydraulic presses were introduced for the purpose. The high 
price of oil during the sixties, when it reached $1.40 per gallon, resulted 
in much profit in the business and a large increase in the number of 
factories, their location extending from Maine to Virginia. Then 
came the preparation of the scrap in the form of portable fertilizer, 
the adoption of large cooking-tanks instead of kettles, and the intro- 
duction of steam vessels in the fishery. 

In 1876 floating factories were introduced. These consisted of boil- 
ers, cooking-tanks, presses, etc., mounted on steamers, sail vessels, 
or scows, for convenience in going from place to place to follow the 
movements of the fish. Probably half a dozen of these were in use 
in 1880; but owing to the lack of convenience for drying and handling 
the scrap, this form of factory was soon abandoned. Another disad- 
vantage of a floating factory is that the constant movement of the 
vessel prevents the oil from settling, and it remains cloudy and fails 
to fetch the best market price. 

The business continued to expand until it reached high-water mark 
in 1884, when 858,592,691 fish were caught, yielding 3,722,927 gallons 
of oil and 68,863 tons of scrap, valued at $2,800,000. Since that time 
great improvements have been made in the methods of the industry, 
but owing to the low price of oil and scrap, resulting from competition 
with other products, the profits have not been so great, and many 
factories have been dismantled. The largest catch of fish in any one 
year, according to figures of the IT. S. Menhaden Oil and Guano Asso- 
ciation, was 858,592,691, taken in 1884; the smallest was 223,623,750, 
secured in 1892, and the average catch during the last thirty years 
approximates 500,000,000 annually. The incomplete returns for 1902 
indicate that the catch exceeded 900,000,000, a greater quantity than 
for any previous year. 

There are two separate and distinct sets of figures showing the 
extent of the menhaden industry during recent years. The first com- 
prises the returns made by the U. S. Menhaden Oil and Guano Associa- 
tion, organized in 1873, and covers the operations of the factories in 
the United States during each year from 1873 to 1898, inclusive. The 
second series represents the returns made by the agents of the United 
States Fish Commission for certain years from 1880 to 1902. Slight 
differences exist in these figures, but in the main they agree closely. 

F. C. 1903 17 



258 



REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 






The following summary shows the returns made by the United 
States Menhaden Oil and Guano Association: 

Statement of the extent of the menhaden industry of the United States in cadi, 
year from 1878 t<> 1898, inclusive, according to the returns of the United States 
Menhad n oil and Chiano Association. 



Year. 



1873. 
1874. 
1875. 

1876. 
1877. 
1878. 
1879. 
1880. 
1881. 
1882. 
1883. 
1884. 
1885. 
1886. 
1887. 
1888. 
1889. 
1890. 
1891. 
1892. 
1893. 
1894. 
1895. 
1896. 
1897. 
1898. 







Vessels em- 
ployed. 








Scrap made. 


Facto- 


Men 






Capital in- 


Fish re- 


oil made. 














ries. 


ployed. 


Stearn- 


Sail. 


vested. 


ceived. 


Dried. 


Crude 
or acid- 


















ulated. 


No. 


No. 








No. 


Gallons. 


Tons. 


Tons. 


62 


2,306 


20 


300 


$2,388,000 


397,700,000 


2,214,800 




36,299 


64 


2,438 


25 


283 


2,500,000 


492.87K.ixxi 


3.372.847 




50,976 


60 


2,633 


39 


304 


2,650,000 


563, 327, (XX) 


2,681,482 




53,625 


64 


. 2, 758 


46 


320 


2,750,000 


5] 2. 45! I. (XXI 


2, 992, (XX) 




51,245 


56 


2,631 


63 


270 


2,047,612 


587,(542,125 


2,426,589 


5.7(H) 


49,744 


56 


3,337 


64 


279 


2, £50, 000 


767. 779. 250 


3,809,233 


19,377 


64, 342 


60 


2,296 


SI 


2(14 


2,502,500 


637,063,750 


2,258,901 


29,563 


37,496 


79 


3, 261 


82 


366 


2,550,000 


776,875,000 


2.034.94(1 


25,800 


19,020 


97 


2,805 


73 


286 


2,460,000 


454. 192, (XX) 


1,266,549 


25.027 


7,592 


97 


3,313 


83 


212 


2,338.511(1 


346,638,555 


2,021,316 


17,552 


10,029 


78 


2,427 


69 


136 


2,651,000 


613. 461 , 776 


2,166,320 


34,216 


10,920 


52 


2,114 


59 


157 


1,534,756 


858,592.691 


3. 722. 927 


58,433 


10, 430 


50 


2,064 


78 


84 


1,314,500 


479.214,415 


2,346.319 


33,910 


7,225 


26 


1,154 


45 


74 


1,234,000 


283,106,000 


1,805,544 


14.597 


4,298 


28 


2,499 


46 


38 


UHIO.IXXI 


333,564,800 


2,273,566 


17,262 


5,368 


24 


3,568 


45 


42 


3,000,000 


439,388,950 


2.051,128 


15,638 


12,406 


29 


4,400 


46 


84 


2,500,000 


555,319,800 


3,327,030 


24,359 


25,859 


28 


1,368 


52 


27 


2,500,000 


533, 086, 156 


2,939,217 


20,339 


21,173 


27 


2,985 


54 


13 


1,775,000 


355, 138, 873 


1,946,642 


12,608 


15,069 


29 


2,002 


55 


10 


1,756,000 


223, 623. ,50 


1,329,644 


8.400 


10,815 


33 


2,235 


:>i 


27 


1.721. (XX) 


366,406,625 


1,269, (KB 


13.150 


15.405 


44 


2,356 


56 


28 


2,000.000 


533, 301. '.XXI 


1,999.506 


20.057 


27,582 


42 


2,276 


48 


35 


1,600,000 


401.747.lKX) 


1,767.754 


18,682 


21,965 


35 


2,115 


53 


38 


1,376, 5(H) 


401,425,800 


1,741,530 


14,280 


21,484 


41 


2,750 


60 


45 


1,871,000 


584,302,930 


2.147.113 


18,430 


34,372 


40 


2.4711 


51 


20 


2. 51 X I.IK XI 


542,500,000 


2. 450. (XX) 


17,360 


34,120 



The following summary shows the extent of the menhaden industry 
according to the latest returns of the United States Fish Commission. 
The figures for Connecticut, New Jersey, and Virginia for 1002 are 
not yet available, and there have been no operations in Texas since 
1901: 



States. 


Year. 


Facto- Fish 
ries. j received. 


Oil made. 


Dried scrap. 


Acidulated 
scrap. 


Total 
value of 
product. 


Rhode Island. 
Connecticut . . . 

New York 

New Jersey . . . 


1902 

1900 
1902 
1901 
1902 
190] 

1902 

1901 


No. No. 

1 114,757,900 

2 19,975,71X1 

3 S 187,671,300 

6 27,090,000 
1 I 84,869,100 

15 378.727.331 

7 | 70,167,800 
1 26.800.500 


Gallons. Value. 

897. 1 88 s225, 912 
118,750 30,475 
1,397,583 353.279 
109,789! 25,440 
394,119 90.724 
723,215 164,465 
102.052 22.730 
69.039 14,654 


Tons. 

450 
9.030 
1,131 
1,642 
21,130 
1,884 
1,710 


Value. 

$12,000 
218,217 

52,046 


Tons. 

15, 727 
1,450 
7,410 


Value. 
$203, 906 

•23.450 
92,765 


8429,818 

65,925 

664,261 

77,486 


Delaware 

Virginia 

North Carolina 
Texas 


39,069 
517.872 
40,214 
30,087 


8, 871 
10,591 

4,804 


110,668 
135.388 
( 54.128 


246,461 
817, 725 
127.072 
44, 741 










Total 


36 


910,065,631 


3,812,335 933,679 


36,977 


909,505 4ft 858 


630,305 


2 473 489 













Although very small quantities of other fish are used, practically 
the entire catch in the menhaden fishery consists of that species alone. 
The principal species other than menhaden are sea-robin, skates, 
and bellows-fish. These are secured mostly in pound nets, especially 
in those set in Gardiner Bay. They sell for 50 to 80 cents per 1,000, 
and two or three million are used each year. The sea-robin yields 



Report U. S. F. C. 1902. 



Plate 20. 




DISCHARGING MENHADEN FROM VESSEL BY MEANS OF TUBS. 




DISCHARGING MENHADEN FROM STEAMER BY MEANS OF BUCKET ELEVATOR, AT PROMISED 

LAND, NEW YORK. 



AQUATIC PRODUCTS AS FERTILIZERS. 259 

3 or 4 quarts of oil to the barrel. This oil is of good color and is 
readily sold for menhaden oil, but the scrap is not quite so desirable 
for fertilizer as that from menhaden. Skates and bellows-fish are com- 
paratively dry, yielding less than one pint of oil to the barrel of fish. 

Owing to much contention resulting from the claim that with the 
menhaden large quantities of choice food-fish are taken and rendered 
at the factories, the United States Fish Commission, in the season of 
1894, made a thorough inspection of the catches made by two repre- 
sentative steamers of the fleet. This examination showed that in a 
catch of 27,965,756 fish only one-third of 1 per cent were food-fish, 
and only a very small proportion of this percentage was of choice and 
popular varieties. "As a general thing not enough desirable food- 
fish are taken by the menhaden steamers to keep the vessels' crews 
regularly supplied with fresh fish. As a rule, all the food-fish caught 
are eaten either by the crews or by the factory hands, but it occasion- 
ally happens that schools of blue-fish, butter-fish, shad, river herring, 
etc. , are taken and more fish are thus provided than can be consumed. " a 

The menhaden factories are distributed along the coast at points 
convenient to the fishing-grounds. They vary in size and equipment 
according to the amount of invested capital and the degree of modern- 
ness. Some are of primitive type, consisting of two or three large 
kettles or try-pots and a simple press, the whole, with the accompany- 
ing equipment, costing only a few hundred dollars, and are capable of 
handling only 300,000 or 400,000 fish annually. From that they in- 
crease in size and capacity until the amount of invested capital in a 
single plant reaches half a million dollars, giving a working capacity 
of 200,000,000 fish annually. 

COOKING AND PRESSING THE FISH. 

The following account of the methods of the menhaden industry 
represents observations and inquiries made by the writer during the 
last four years, and especially in the season 1901. Most of the factories 
were visited either in 1901 or previously, and all details in the process 
of manufacture were inspected. The writer wishes to acknowledge 
in this connection the courtesy of Capt. N. B. Church, general man- 
ager of the Fisheries Company; Mr. H. H. Luther, superintendent of 
the Promised Land plant of that company, and of Capt. J. F. Bussels, 
of the Atlantic Fisheries Company. 

There are two principal processes involved in the manufacture of 
oil and scrap from menhaden, viz, (1) cooking and pressing the fish 
and (2) drying or otherwise preserving the scrap, the methods vary- 
ing according to the facilities of the plant. The great bulk of the 
fish are handled at large factories thoroughly equipped with modern 
machinery, including bucket elevators, automatic conveyors, contin- 
uous steam-cookers, hydraulic presses, artificial driers, etc. 

Some of the factories, especially in Virginia, are quite small, with 

"Bulletin United States Fish Commission for 1895, p. 297. 



260 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

primitive methods of work. In one of them a five is made under fotir 
cast-iron stationary boiling vats holding about 2 barrels of fish each. 
By means of a trough leading- from a pump, water is permitted to run 
into the vats. After sufficient cooking, the fish are seooped out with 
large dip nets and put on a platform, whence they are pitched into 
tub presses having alining of coarse canvas. By means of a vertical 
screw operated by a horizontal lever, pressure is applied to the mass, 
and the exuding oil runs through a trough to the oil vats. Another 
Chesapeake factory has six iron cooking- vats, in which are suspended 
an equal number of iron latticed baskets containing the fish. After 
cooking, the baskets are transferred by means of a crane and the fish 
placed in an hydraulic press. This method of cooking was formerly 
in general use all along the coast frequented by the menhaden. 

In the best-equipped factories the fish are removed from the hold 
of the steamer, where they have been stowed in bulk, by means of a 
bucket elevator. This contrivance, so important in the handling of 
grain and coal, was not introduced in the menhaden business until 
1800, when a factory at Tiverton, R. I., was equipped with one. Al 
present, however, they are in use in all the principal factories. 
Before their adoption the fish were shoveled into measuring tubs in 
the vessel's hold, and these raised and dumped in elevated receiving 
bins, or into cars holding 15 or 20 barrels each and running on inclined 
tramways to the receiving bins, requiring five or six hours to dis 
charge 1,000 barrels. By using the bucket elevator, with four men to 
feed it, 1,000 barrels of fish may easily be discharged in an hour. 
This decrease in length of time required for discharging is frequently 
a matter of great importance when fish are abundant, as it enables 
the steamers to speedily return to the fishing-grounds. 

The elevator dumps the fish into one of a pair of automatic weighing- 
hoppers, with a dial-scale indicator of 1-ton capacity. When the 
required weight is in the hopper, by means of a lever the incoming 
fish are directed into the other hopper, and the bottom of the full one 
is dropped, thus dumping its contents into a conveyor, which deposits 
the fish into a receiving bin with capacity of G,000 or 8,000 barrels. 

The weighing of the fish is necessary to secure a record of the 
quantity received, furnishing a basis for compensating the captains 
of the- vessels, and for other purposes. It thus appears that this 
method of discharging changes the standard of measurement from 
bulk to weight. Although it is customary to reckon the quantity of 
menhaden by so many thousand, the fish are not counted. An arbi- 
trary size of 22 cubic inches is the standard measurement for each 
fish, or 22,000 cubic inches to the thousand. Two hundred pounds 
represent one barrel, and 3^ barrels represent 1,000 fish. The size 
of the fish varies considerably, and the actual number required to 
make "one thousand " in measure ranges from 500 to 2,000 in number. 

The floor of the large receiving bin slants toward the longitudinal 



Report U. S. F. C. 1902. 



Plate 21 




RECEIVING-BIN FOR FISH AT MENHADEN FACTORY. 




CONTINUOUS STEAM-COOKER, USED BY FISHERIES COMPANY AT PROMISED LAND, NEW YORK. 



AQUATIC PRODUCTS AS FERTILIZERS. 2<U 

middle, where is stationed a trough or chute with a covering movable 
in sections of short length. In this trough runs a conveyor, consist- 
ing of two parallel endless chains, between which, at intervals of 2 or 
3 feet, are attached pieces of board which act as buckets to push the 
fish along through the trough when a section of the covering is removed. 
This trough with endless carrier is in use in practically all the large 
factories, irrespective of the method of cooking. It carries (he lish 
to the cooking bins, or to the steam cooker in case the latter is 
employed, traps or slides in the bottom of the trough permitting the 
distribution of the fish into any of the tanks desired. 

The cooking bins or tanks are large rectangular wooden boxes hav- 
ing capacity of from 50 to 100 barrels each and arranged with a lattice 
platform, about 4 inches above the bottom, on which the fish rest. 
Between the lattice platform and the bottom there is a nest of steam 
piping connected with a pipe leading from steam boilers. A water 
pipe also leads into the bin, through which salt water for cooking the 
fish is pumped into the tanks to a depth of about 1 foot or more. For 
convenience in handling the materials, the bins are commonly 
arranged in two adjacent rows, and above them runs the endless car- 
rier conveying the fish from the receiving bin. On the outer side of 
each of the two rows of tanks runs a track leading to the presses, to 
be described later. When the bins are filled with fish, steam is 
turned into the piping in the bottom and heats the water, thus cook- 
ing the fish, reducing them to pulp, and breaking the oil cells. The 
amount of the cooking determines the extent to which the oil is 
removed. If carried to an extreme point, nearly all the oil can be 
pressed out. But severe cooking results in greatly damaging the 
quality of the oil and in loss of a certain amount of the nitrogenous 
compounds so important in determining the commercial value of the 
scrap. It is, therefore, important that the heat be so regulated as to 
extract as much oil as practicable without injuring the quality and 
with a minimum loss of nitrogen. The requisite degree of cooking is 
reached when the fish crumble to pieces easily. A high degree of 
temperature is maintained for about fifty minutes, when the mass of 
fish is broken up and then permitted to simmer for four or five hours. 
The free oil and water are then drawn off and the fish permitted to 
drain for several hours. 

During the last two or three years the largest factories on the coast 
have been using continuous steam cookers. The most popular form is 
constructed so that a conveyor transmits the fish into a steam-tight 
receptacle, into which a large number of jets of steam are introduced, 
which thoroughly cooks the mass. The process is continuous, requiring 
about fifteen minutes for the fish to pass through, and the capacity of 
each cooker is about 600 barrels per hour. From the cooker the mass 
of fish is carried by means of a screw conveyor into an upright elevator 
casing, whence a bucket elevator carries it to receiving tanks, where 
it drains overnight. These tanks are usually about 10 feet square 



2()2 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

and 5 feel deep. Most factories use fortius purpose the bins used in 
cooking before the adoption of the steam cooker. One factory has a 
total of 52 tanks for draining the fish. 

The oil and water draining from the cooked tish is pumped oi- 
led off through pipes ortroughs into the oil room, where it is received 
into large vats. After draining for ten or twelve hours, the mass of 
cooked fish is forked out of the tanks and thrown into curbs for 
pressing. 

The curbs are of various designs. The most common form is a cylin- 
drical tub with a hinged bottom firmly attached to axles, which are 
provided with wheels so as to run on a tramway. The staves are 
made of metal slats and are held together by stout bands. They are 
set at a convenient distance apart to allow the oil and water to pass 
through, and increase in width from the center to the bottom enough 
to overcome the enlargement of the opening between the slats conse- 
quent upon their outward slant. This outward slant commences at 
about flu 4 middle of the curb and extends to the lower end, and its 
effect is to give the curb an increasing diameter as the bottom is 
approached, so that the hard cake remaining after pressure is relaxed 
can be readily forced out at the bottom. Through the center of the 
curb runs a hollow core, stoutly constructed of metal slats. The bot- 
tom is attached by means of hinges to the lower end of braces, which 
are firmly fastened to the lower band of the curb, the axle, and the 
middle band. The opposite side of the bottom is suspended by means 
of latches which are caught and held by a bolt sliding freely within 
the braces and actuated by a lever pivoted upon the axles. The axles 
are also braced by stays on either side of the tub, which pass from one 
axle to the other, and, being curved to fit closely to a section of a 
band, are firmly attached thereto. The capacity of each curb is about 
7 barrels. A metal shield surrounds it to protect the workmen from 
the spattering oil and water when pressure is applied. 

The curb, having been filled with cooked fish, is run along the rail 
and placed under a solid stationary head made to fit closely inside the 
curb and against which the fish are pressed as the curb is slowly raised 
by a powerful hydraulic press. This forces out most of the remaining 
oil and water, which exudes from between the slats, and by means of 
troughs and pipes is conveyed to the oil room. On relaxing the pres- 
sure the curb resumes its position on the railway and is moved from 
the press stand and the core removed; the bottom is swung out of the 
way, and the hard cake remaining in the tub is forced through the 
bottom, falling into receptacles underneath. 

Under ordinaiy conditions from 5 to 7 per cent of the oil is left in 
the pressed fish, it being difficult to remove all the oil and water, 
owing to the gelatinous or gluey state of the fish as a result of the 
cooking. In some factories the chum or pressed fish is washed with 
hot water and then repressed, but this is scarcely profitable if the first 



AQUATIC PRODUCTS AS FERTILIZERS. 263 

pressing is properly performed. The chum now passes to the scrap 
room and its further treatment is described on pp. 265-268. 

About two-thirds of the total amount of oil obtained runs from the 
cooked fish while it drains in the vats, the .remaining one-third being- 
extracted by the presses. The former is a trifle better than the latter, 
as it is somewhat lighter in color. The two grades arc sometimes kept 
separate, but such is not the general practice. 

Among the many methods of extracting the oil which have been 
tried but not adopted is the use of fumes of benzine or bisulphide of 
carbon. When these are brought in contact with the fish in air-tight 
chambers, they absorb the oil, the liquid result collecting in tanks at 
the bottom of the receptacle and the benzine being subsequently 
expelled by evaporation. 

Much attention has been paid to devising a continuous process of 
cooking and pressing, in which the elements of labor are reduced to 
a minimum. When the Stanley process was invented, about five 
years ago, it was thought that the problem was solved and the patent 
rights were sold for a very large sum of money. In this process the 
fish are cooked in boiling water in a large, comparatively shallow, 
semicylindrical tank, the lower portion of which is fitted with a Avorm 
conveyor, while near the top is a perforated plate or grating, above 
which the fish or other solid matter can not pass, but through which 
the water and oil rise. The material is fed in through a hopper at 
one end and is discharged at the other end, being carried forward by 
the worm conveyor, which also reduces the material to a finely divided 
state, thus enabling the action of the water upon all parts of the 
material freely to liberate the oil. The oil rises to the surface of the 
water .in the cooking vessel and escapes through a pipe in the end 
into a settling tank. From the bottom of this tank whatever water 
has come over with the oil is pumped back into the cooking vessel, 
entering at the opposite end from the outlet through which the oil 
flows and at a point near the surface of the level at which the water 
in the boiler is constantly kept, thus creating a current which carries 
the oil constantly forward toward the outlet. The scrap from which 
the oil has been liberated is carried forward to an outlet in the bottom 
of the cylinder by the worm conveyor and falls into an upright eleva- 
tor casing having elevator buckets running upon an endless chain, 
which carry the material up and over, dumping it into a receptacle 
suitable for removing for further treatment. The liquid matter is 
carried up by the elevator buckets, drains through them, and returns 
to the liquor in the cooking apparatus. This process, however, has 
not yet been found sufficiently practical for general adoption. 

As long ago as 1858 the Ocean Oil and Guano Company, of Southold, 
N. Y. , used a steam cylinder cooker somewhat similar to the continuous 
cooker now in use. This is said to have been invented by a French- 
man named De Molon, and is described in a pamphlet issued by the 
above company in 1860 as follows: The raw fish, in quantities of If 



264 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

tons, are placed in the inner chamber of ;i revolving cylinder, with 
double walls, the space between the inner and the outer walls being 
filled with steam at about 80 pounds pressure. Before admitting 
steam the cylinder is put in motion, so that as it revolves each fish is 
constantly changing its position. A uniform temperature is main- 
tained by means of one head of the inner cylinder being perforated 
to permit the steam generated in the mass to escape through a safely 
valve. 

In the oil room of the menhaden factories is a series of receptacles 
into which the oil and water are received from the draining tanks and 
the presses. The combined mass of oil and water is first subjected 
to a temperature of 150° F., which causes them to separate, the oil 
rising to the surface. It is permitted to overflow to other tanks con- 
taining hot water, where it is brought to the boiling-point by means 
of injected steam. It is important that the oil be separated from the 
water before the impurities begin to ferment, fermentation causing 
it to be dark and of lower grade. After settling for a while the oil 
is withdrawn into another tank and thence pumped into the storage 
tanks. 

A contrivance for withdrawing the oil from the surface consists of 
a jointed pipe with open end at top, which in some cases is funnel- 
shaped. This passes up through the bottom of the vat, and the top 
of the pipe is so arranged that it may be raised or lowered to any 
desired distance beneath the surface to receive and guide the surface 
oil into the next vat. Sometimes there is a series of as many as 5 
vats, from one to another of which the oil passes, each time becoming 
purer and purer as it is cooked and drained. The oil is led into the 
first of the cooking vats through the bottom, the pipe leading nearly 
to the surface. A second pipe passing through the bottom and ter- 
minating with an open top not a great distance above the bottom 
carries off the water-oil or less pure oil as it settles and conducts it 
to near the top of the second vat, where the oil and water are further 
separated. 

At the bottom of each settling tank is deposited a quantity of finely- 
divided fleshy substance known as "gurry." This is removed from 
the tanks to the gurry room, where it is treated or sprinkled with 
sulphuric acid to facilitate the separation of the oil from the flesh 
fiber. It is then placed in bags, 2 gallons to the bag, and these placed 
in pairs under a press and subjected to great pressure, resulting in a 
small quantity of oil. The residuum in the bags, consisting of a hard 
cake, is broken up and either discarded or mixed with the scrap. 

When thoroughly separated from the water, the oil is pumped into 
suitable storage tanks or barreled. The refining or bleaching of the 
oil is rarely done at the factories, but is performed by the oil-refiners 
of New York, New Bedford, Boston, etc. , and the methods and results 
have already been described on p. 234. 



Report U. S. F. C. 1902. 



Plate 22. 




AQUATIC PRODUCTS AS FERTILIZERS. 265 

The yield of oil varies greatly, ranging- from less than 1 pint to as 
much as 15 gallons or more per thousand fish, or rather for each 22,000 
cubic inches of fish. As a rule, it is much greater in the autumn than 
in the spring, and also greater in Northern than in Southern localities. 
Even in the same locality the fish are very much fatter throughout 
some years than in others. For instance, the average yield of the 
fish taken in Chesapeake Bay in 1887 was nearly 6 gallons to the 
thousand, whereas in 1888 it was a little over 2 gallons, and early in 
that season it was less than 1 pint to the thousand fish. Some years 
ago one of the Shelter Island factories secured from one lot of fish a 
yield of 24 gallons to the thousand. The largest yield brought to the 
notice of the writer was derived from some menhaden that had been 
inclosed in Shinnecock Bay late in autumn. By feeding in the brack- 
ish water of that bay these became so fat that they yielded at the 
rate of 48 gallons of oil per thousand fish. Considering the entire 
Atlantic coast for a series of ten years ending in 1898, it is found that 
each thousand fish yielded 4.59 gallons of oil and 138 pounds of scrap 
containing 10 per cent of moisture. During the ten years ending in 
1888 the jdeld per thousand fish was 4 gallons, and during the six 
years ending in 1878 it was 5.26 gallons. 

The table given on page 233 shows the total yield of menhaden oil 
on the Atlantic coast of the United States and the average yield per 
thousand fish for each year since 1873. From those figures it appears 
that the largest yield per thousand fish was 6.84 gallons in 1874. The 
yield in 1887 and also that in 1886 were large, being 6.81 and 6.38 
gallons, respectively. The smallest yield per 1,000 fish was in 1880, 
2.62 gallons, and in 1881, 2.79 gallons. 

Not only does the yield of oil vary from year to year, but it also 
differs greatly in different sections of the country. As a rule, the 
Northern fish, or rather those taken in Northern waters, especially off 
the Maine coast, are the fattest, while those from off the southern coast 
yield the smallest quantity. In the year 1900, for instance, the yield 
of oil at the Rhode Island factories was 5.76 gallons per 1,000 fish; in 
New York it was 6.39 gallons; in Delaware 4.92 gallons, and in Texas 
3.51 gallons to the 1,000 fish. The menhaden taken off the coast of 
Maine are by far the fattest, and in the few seasons when fish are 
obtainable there the menhaden fishermen from other States hasten to 
# that coast. In 1888 the Maine fish yielded 11.85 gallons of oil per 
1,000; in 1889, 10.83 gallons, and in 1898, 9. 73 gallons to the thousand 
measure. Menhaden have not been taken to any extent on that coast 
since 1898. 

TREATMENT OF THE SCRAP. 

As it leaves the press, fish scrap contains 45 or 50 per cent of water, 
which can not be removed by compression owing to the gelatinous 
condition of the fiber. Although suitable for immediate applica- 
tion as a fertilizer, the moist condition of this scrap renders it unde- 



266 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

sirable for economic transportation or for storage for a great length 
of time, and necessitates further treatment. Previous to 1875 most 
of the scrap was sold in a green state, just as it came from the press, 
but since 1878 practically all of it has been dried or treated with sul- 
phuric acid. 

Formerly in drying it was customary at all the factories to spread 
the green scrap upon platforms, where it was exposed to the action 
of the sun for several days. While this is the common method at 
present, most of the large factories have discarded it and are using 
artificial driers. The platforms are made of tight or matched boards 
laid flat upon a stout framework or upon the level ground, and are 
sometimes of large area, covering 2 or 3 acres. The scrap is trans- 
ferred from the bin beneath the presses by means of screw conveyors 
and carried to a receiving bin, where it is dumped into hand carts 
with capacity of one-half ton each and carried to the platform. It is 
there spread to a depth of from 3 to 6 inches and is frequently turned 
or raked over, so as to expose all particles to the sun's influence. In 
threatening weather and when the night dews are heavy, the scrap is 
raked into windrows or heaps and, if necessary, covered with canvas 
to protect it from moisture. After two or three days' drying it is piled 
in heaps and left to sweat for a time, and then is again spread to 
evaporate the free moisture generated in the heaps. This second dry- 
ing reduces the amount of moisture in the scrap to about 10 per cent, 
and the material may be safely bagged and stored for market, though 
that operation is usually deferred until immediately before its ship- 
ment. Frequently the dried scrap is ground, especially when it is to 
be sold direct to the farmers without further treatment, in order that 
it may be sown in drills with wheat and other grains. 

If good weather could always be depended on, platform-drying would 
possibly be the most economical and satisfactory method; but owing 
to uncertainties of the weather much difficulty is frequently experi- 
enced in this process, resulting in a great waste of material and extra 
expenditure of labor and loss of ammonia in the scrap. This has 
resulted in the adoption of artificial driers at the largest factories. 
Several forms of apparatus have been employed, but the principle in 
most of them is similar, the scrap being subjected to a current of 
heated air by means of a blower. The drier adopted in the largest 
factories consists of an iron cylinder about 30 feet long and 5 feet in % 
diameter, so mounted as to revolve horizontally. On the interior sur- 
face are shelves or paddles which, as the cylinder revolves, lift the 
scrap fed in at one end and permit it to fall to the bottom. A strong 
current of heated air is forced through the cylinder, extracting the 
moisture and gradually driving the scrap out at the further end. 

Another form of drier in use consists of a large double cylinder of 
iron set on an incline, into which the scrap is fed through an opening 
at the higher end and guided along to the lower end by means of a 
revolving screw. The space between the inner and outer walls of 



AQUATIC PRODUCTS AS FERTILIZERS. 267 

the cylinder is filled with steam, which heats the scrap, thereby 
evaporating most of the moisture. 

Labor-saving devices make the handling of the scrap almost auto- 
matic From the presses it is transferred to the drier by means of 
screw conveyors and bucket elevators, and is fed intermittently in 
quantities of 200 pounds at intervals of 45 to 60 seconds. The capac- 
ity of a drier is 2£ to 3 tons per hour, and the largest factories usually 
have 2 drying- machines. From these the scrap is conveyed to the 
storage room. 

Although the term "dried" is popularly applied to all scrap from 
which a large portion of the moisture has been removed by evaporation, 
its use in a technical sense refers to scrap containing not to exceed 
12 per cent of moisture. In modern factories, green scrap fresh from 
the presses contains from 45 to 50 per cent of water. When desic- 
cated so that only 10 per cent of its weight is water, each ton of chum 
oi- green scrap yields about 1,156 pounds of " dried scrap." It is not 
always that so large a quantity of water is eliminated, and sometimes 
the finished scrap contains 25 and even 35 per cent of moisture. 
Owing to its tendency to lose nitrogen in the form of ammonia and 
its unsuitability for storage or transportation, the scrap containing a 
high percentage of moisture is for use principally in the vicinity of 
the factories. 

Not all the scrap, however, is dried, a large percentage being treated 
with sulphuric acid for the purpose of "fixing" the ammonia, pre- 
venting fermentation, and dissolving the bones. To every ton of 
serai), from 80 to 200 pounds of sulphuric acid of about 50° strength 
is added and thoroughly commingled, the quantity of acid used depend- 
ing to some extent on the state of the weather and the extent of 
decomposition of the fish. This is conveniently done by depositing 
the green scrap in handcarts of 1,000 pounds capacity, wheeling 
these to an elevated platform and dumping the contents beneath, 
when the heap is immediately sprinkled with about 60 pounds of sul- 
phuric acid eontained in a leaden pot. After a short while the bones 
dissolve and the mass becomes homogeneous and of a rich brown color, 
instead of the former grayish color. The ammonia is fixed by the 
acid and the tendency to decomposition overcome. The scrap is then 
conveyed to the storage room and shipped in bulk as required. 

Instead of sulphuric acid, the solid granular sodium sulphate has 
been used to mix with the scrap, about 00 pounds being thoroughly 
combined with each ton. While this method is somewhat cheaper 
than applying sulphuric acid, it is not so satisfactory, and sodium sul- 
phate is now little used for this purpose. 

Owing to the difficulty in drying the scrap, most of that prepared 
at the Northern factories is acidulated, while the bulk of the South- 
ern product is dried. In the last year for which data are available, 
the product of the entire coast was 48,853 tons acidulated and 36,977 



268 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

tons dried, with a total selling value of $1,539,810. Of the 45,711 tons 
produced from Delaware northward, 33,458 tons were acidulated and 
12,253 were dried, the average price of the former being 112.87 per 
ton and the latter $26.22 per ton. South of Delaware the product of 
green and of acidulated scrap combined, according to the latest 
returns, was 15,395 tons, while 24,724 tons were dried, the respective 
values per ton being $12.95 and #23.79. 

Only a- small percentage of the fish scrap is used by the farmers in the 
condition in which it leaves the factories; most of it is ground and 
serves as an ingredient in compound or so-called "complete" ferti- 
lizers. Compound fertilizers are prepared at some of the menhaden 
factories, but as a general thing their preparation is in the hands of 
persons who have nothing to do with catching and rendering the fish. 

The value of commercial fertilizers is dependent mainly on their 
content of nitrogen and phosphoric acid, which are the most impor- 
tant plant foods usually lacking in the soil. The nitrogen necessary 
is supplied mainly by fish scrap. Various other materials are also 
used, as dried blood, meat scrap and other slaughter-house refuse, 
cotton seed, sulphate of ammonia, nitrate of soda, Peruvian guano, etc. 
The phosphoric acid is supplied by fish scrap to some extent, but 
principally by the phosphate rocks, boneblack from the sugar refin- 
eries, bone meal, etc., the solubility of the phosphate being increased 
by treatment with sulphuric acid, thus making superphosphates. 
The value of fish scrap varies according to the percentage of ammonia 
and phosphoric acid contained therein. As a general rule, dried scrap 
contains about 8 per cent of nitrogen and 8^ per cent of phosphoric 
acid. On a selling basis of $24 per ton, the nitrogen costs about 10 
cents per pound and the phosphoric acid about 3£ cents per pound 
for compounding purposes. Other necessary plant foods are potash, 
lime, magnesia, sulphuric acid, and iron. These usually exist in suf- 
ficient quantities in the soil itself, but are added under special con- 
ditions, especially the potash. The nature of the ingredients and the 
respective proportions required vary according to the soil and the 
crop for which the compound is intended. 

Although the agricultural value of dried fish scrap is nearly equal 
to that of Peruvian guano, the market price is much below that arti- 
cle. In explanation of this fact it may be stated that fish scrap is not 
in such compact and good mechanical condition for shipment and gen- 
eral use. Its value as a fertilizing agent has not been so widely known 
as that of Peruvian guano, and thus its principal use is largely limited 
to the manufacturers of superphosphates, who are forced by compe- 
tition to exercise great caution in the cost of manufacture. And, 
furthermore, there is a tendency to reduce the quantity of ammonia and 
increase that of phosphoric acid and potash in complete fertilizers to 
meet the requirements of the soil. Other ammoniated materials now 
compete with fish guano in the making of superphosphates, among 



Report U. S. F. C. 1902. 



Plate 23. 




ARTIFICIAL DRIER IN FACTORY OF FISHERIES COMPANY. PROMISED LAND, NEW YORK. 

(SEE P. 266.1 




FERTILIZER ROOM IN FACTORY OF THE FISHERIES COMPANY, PROMISED LAND, N. Y. 



AQUATIC PRODUCTS AS FERTILIZERS. 269 

which are cotton seed, sulphate of ammonia, nitrate of soda, tankage, 
meat scraps, slaughter-house refuse, etc. 

The product of fish scrap, reduced to basis of dried weight, produced 
from 1873 to 1000 approximates 1,048,000 tons, or an annual average of 
37,428 tons. As it is estimated that in a ton of compound fertilizer ready 
for the soil the usual proportion of fish scrap is 25 per cent, it is seen 
that the industry has contributed the ammoniatefor 4,102,000 tons of 
fertilizer, or at the rate of 149,712 tons annually. In growing cotton, 
for which these fertilizers are largely used, 250 pounds are generally 
employed to raise one bale. 

FERTILIZERS FROM FISH WASTE OR REFUSE. 

Even in the food-fisheries large quantities of materials are obtained 
which can not be used for food. This includes not only non-edible 
species, but also those edible varieties which are not marketable, 
owing to such unusual conditions as lack of transportation facilities 
or a glut in the market. It likewise includes the refuse in dressing 
fish for the markets and for canning, drying, salting, etc. 

Formerly, when the markets were overstocked during warm weather, 
large quantities of fresh fish spoiled and were suitable only for ferti- 
lizer. Even so choice a variety as the mackerel has been used for 
enriching land when taken in larger quantities than could be used for 
food purposes. In 1880, for instance, when the total catch of mackerel 
in New England approximated 132,000,000 pounds, 500,000 pounds 
of small fish were reported as having been used in Massachusetts as 
fertilizer/' 

Previous to 1870, according to Capt. N. B. Church, many thousand 
barrels of scup and sea bass, taken in trap nets between Cape Cod and 
Montauk Point, were purchased by the farmers and spread on the land. 
Mr. A. B. Alexander states that large quantities of shad taken in the 
Columbia River are lised for fertilizer. With the development of fish 
freezers and the improved means of communication and transportation 
this waste is much reduced. Yet the aggregate quantity of food-fish 
received in bad condition, or which "goes bad" in the markets, in 
the course of the year is very large in any populous city. During 
1890, according to the Fish Trades Gazette, the quantity of fish con- 
demned by the officers of the Fishmongers' Company in London was 
1,520 tons, of which 232 tons were plaice, 228 tons Norwegian herring, 
1G9 tons haddock, 04 tons mussels, 80 tons skate, 70 tons welks, and 
60 tons of periwinkles. In New York City the quantity of spoiled 
fish condemned during the summer amounts to several hundred 
thousand pounds each year. 6 

a Report U. S. Fish Commission, 1881, p. 219. 

l> During the interval between Wednesday, June 30, and Wednesday, July 14, the authorities of 
the health department of New York City condemned as unfit for food 41,650 pounds of fish. 
Of this amount. 39,650 pounds were seized in the Fulton Fish Market, the remaining 2,000 pounds 
being condemned by the local inspectors among the retail dealers in various sections of the 
city. (The Fishing Gazette, 1902, p. 458.) 



270 REPORT Ol<' COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

Before the development of the sardine industry in Maine, the small 
fish taken in connection with the smoked-herring business were com- 
monly converted into oil and fertilize]-. After the oil had been 
extracted by boiling and pressing, the chum was broken np, spread 
on a board platform, and dried by the action of the sun. It was then 
ground, bagged, and sold at 112 to $16 per ton. 

About fifteen years ago a factory was established at Pillar Point, 
on the shore of Lake Ontario, for converting the surplus alewiveS 
occurring in that lake into fertilizer. The fish, obtained by means of 
seines and pound nets, were cooked for about 20 minutes in steam 
chests, permitted to drain for an hour, and then subjected to pressure 
in circular curbs holding about 5 barrels of chum each. The scrap was 
dried and ground and sold to the farmers for about $20 to $25 per ton. 
It is reported that in 1880 1,000,000 fish were utilized, yielding 500 
gallons of oil and 63 tons of fertilizer. Along the shores of the Great 
Lakes and other waters, quantities of dead fish have been washed up 
in windrows, furnishing a harvest for the farmers in the vicinity. 

In the pound-net fisheries of Cape Cod many skates and other 
" poor " fish, taken incidentally with the food-fish, are converted into 
fertilizer. If these contain much oil, it may be extracted by boiling 
and pressing. Ordinarily, however, the fish are dried without pre- 
vious treatment. Especially is this the case with skates, which in 
some instances are suspended in rows above the ground until thor- 
oughly dry, and are then ground fine. A large quantity of these fish 
hanging from a series of flakes or rails presents a very curious sight. 

The quantity of waste and spoiled fish, however, is small compared 
with the veiy large amount of viscera and other offal resulting from 
dressing fish. The decrease in weight in dressing ranges from 15 to 
35 per cent of the round weight, according to the species of fish and 
the season of the year. Assuming an average decrease of 25 per 
cent, it appears that in dressing the 900,000,000 pounds of food-fish 
produced in the United States each year the refuse amounts to 
225,000,000 pounds, or 1 12,500 tons. While this is a very large amount 
in the aggregate, it is so widely distributed that the quantity at any 
one place is not of great importance, and usually its disposal is a 
sanitary problem rather than a source of revenue. In dressing fish at 
sea the waste is almost invariably thrown overboard. In the cities this 
material is usually combined with and handled in the same w.ay as 
other market refuse. At the canneries where large quantities of fish 
are dressed, as in the salmon canneries of the Pacific coast, and the 
sardine canneries of Maine, the -refuse is now in many cases ren- 
dered into oil and fertilizer. This has already been noted in the 
chapter on the preparation of oils from waste products in the fisheries. 
(See pp. 240-242). 

In case the fish dressings contain little oil the inducements for 
utilizing them are not great. Water constitutes a very large propor- 
tion of the viscera, the quantity ranging from 65 to 90 per cent, 



Report U. S. F. C. 1902. 



Plate 24. 




AQUATIC 1 PRODUCTS AS FERTILIZERS. 271 

according to the species and the season. Even when the moisture is 
largely removed the quantity of fertilizing substances in. the dried 
material is small. However, if the quantity of oil in the waste is 
sufficient to pay the cost of its extraction, it is usually profitable to 
perform the slight additional labor necessary to make the material 
suitable for fertilizer. The manurial content of fish heads is rela- 
tively large, and whenever they are accumulated in large quantities 
their conversion into fertilizer is profitable. 

A convenient process of converting a small quantity of refuse from 
dressing fish into fertilizer is to store it in a receptacle made in the 
ground. This should be about 5 or 6 feet deep, with the area depend- 
ing on the amount of refuse, but usually about 6 feet square. It 
should be dry and if the soil is sandy some chay should be spread at 
the bottom. First is placed a laj^er of wood ashes a few inches deep 
and then an equal layer of fish refuse covered by a sprinkling of lime. 
Then follow another layer of ashes, one of fish refuse sprinkled with 
lime, and so on until the hole is full. It should be covered with earth 
or sod and these covered with weighted boards and permitted to so 
remain for several months. The fish refuse quickly disintegrates 
and becomes mixed with the ashes, forming an excellent fertilizer. 

Since 1875 the skins and bones resulting from the preparation of 
boneless codfish have been used for fertilizing purposes. After 
desalting them and extracting the glue, the remaining material is 
dried and sold for $15 or $20 per ton. The annual product amounts 
to about 3,000 tons. Most of this is produced at Gloucester, Mass., 
with smaller quantities at Boston, Provincetown, Portland, and Vinal 
Haven. According to analyses, this fertilizer contains about 10 or 
12 per cent of phosphoric acid, 8 or 9 per cent of nitrogen, and 5 or 
6 per cent of moisture. 

The refuse in preparing oil from livers of cod, sharks, and related 
species, from heads of halibut, sturgeon, and sword-fish, and from 
other materials is also dried and sold for fertilizer. The liver scrap 
formerly sold at $8 or $10 per ton, but at present its market value is 
only about half of that amount. Fertilizer made from fish heads 
is especially rich in phosphoric acid. A sample of guano made in 
Boston from fresh cod heads showed 20 per cent of phosphoric acid, 
Gi per cent of nitrogen, and 3£ per cent of moisture, and a sample of 
that made from fresh halibut heads contained 13 per cent of phosphoric 
acid, 5^ per cent of nitrogen, and 5 per cent of moisture. 

An important fish fertilizer in Norway is made from the refuse in 
dressing cod for drying, consisting principally of heads and back- 
bones. These are merely dried by spreading them on the rocks and 
are then broken and ground to the condition of coarse bone-meal. 
In some localities the refuse is first steamed, to facilitate the drying 
and grinding. The utilization of these materials for fertilizer was 
begun about 1855, and the industry is centered at the Lofoden Islands, 
the location of the principal cod fishery of Europe. The present 



272 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

annual production is said to be upward of 10,000 tons of prepared 
scrap, about 20,000,000 cod heads being utilized for the purpose. 

According to a report made by Consul-General Crowe, of the Brit- 
ish service, the heads and bones are first partly dried in the open air 
and then cut into small pieces and thoroughly dried in a kiln. When 
all but 12 or 15 per cent of moisture has been driven off, the materials 
are crushed and then ground between millstones to the fineness of 
corn meal. The heads and bones are crushed separately, but are 
mixed together before the grinding process, the usual proportion of 
the mixture being one part of the backbones to five parts of the heads. 
Chemical analyses indicate an average content of water 13 per cent; 
organic substances 49.3 per cent, of which 8 per cent is nitrogen and 
7.G per cent ammonia; and inorganic substances 37.7 per cent, of 
which 14.9 per cent is phosphoric acid. 

In utilizing whales at the Norwegian stations established in con- 
nection with the taking of these cetaceans, the flesh and bones arc 
commonly prepared as fertilizer after the extraction of the oil. The 
blubber and the fat-lean are first removed from the flesh for oil-ren- 
dering, and then the flesh is cut into strips or minced in a machine 
and boiled with steam under pressure. As described by Michael 
Winnem, in Chemische Revue, the receptacles for boiling the flesh are 
horizontal iron cylinders provided with close-fitting openings. They 
are also provided with two outlet pipes, one at the very bottom, for 
removing the water, and the other about 4 inches higher up, for draw- 
ing off the oil. The flesh is spread on three superimposed perforated 
trays or false bottoms, and subjected within the cylinder to steam at 
a pressure of 40 or 50 pounds to the square inch for ten or twelve 
hours. At the end of that period the flesh is removed and placed in 
drying ovens. These are built of brick, 20 to 25 feet high, and fitted 
with internal sheet-metal trays, which are mounted alternately on the 
sides of the oven and on a central revolving shaft. The latter carries 
a number of slanting scrapers which revolve once in 5 minutes and 
slowly force the flesh from one tray to the next lower ones in suc- 
cession. The descending flesh is dried by the heated air from a coke 
fire, which enters the oven at the top and passes out through an 
opening at the bottom. 

The process is somewhat slow, the output during twenty-four hours 
not exceeding 2 tons for each oven. If desired, the fertilizer may be 
ground in a mill. The bones are broken and treated in much the 
same manner as the flesh. After boiling they are crushed in a dis- 
integrator, ground in a bone-mill, and mixed with the flesh scrap. An 
analysis, made by Krocker, of Norwegian whale fertilizer indicated 
7.63 per cent of nitrogen, 13.45 per cent of phosphoric acid, 1(3.49 per 
cent of lime, and 0.15 per cent of magnesia in a sample containing 
5.35 per cent of moisture. The market price is about £5 per ton. In 
the bottle-nose fishery the oil is commonly extracted at sea, as in case 
of the American whale fishery, and consequently it is not practicable 
to utilize the flesh aud bones as fertilizer. 



Report U. S. F. C. 1902. 



Plate 25. 




AQUATIC PRODUCTS AS FERTILIZERS. 273 

FERTILIZERS FROM CRUSTACEANS. 

Among the most curious of the marine products used for fertilizer 
is the horseshoe crab {Limulus polyphemus), which is found in com- 
parative abundance at several points on the Atlantic coast and espe- 
cially on the shores of Delaware Bay. The use of this fertilizer dates 
back at least a hundred years, old records indicating its employment 
by the farmers of Cape Cod in the eighteenth century. It is reported 
that they were first used in the Delaware Bay region about fifty years 
ago. In that section they are taken during May and June, when large 
numbers visit the shallow waters for spawning purposes. During the 
remainder of the year they are scarce inshore, although a few may be 
obtained. They are secured by picking them up at night on the shore 
either by hand or with pitchforks, or they are taken in pound nets 
constructed especially for that purpose. The pound nets cost $25 to 
175 each, and they secure by far the greater number. At present the 
catch is very much less than it was twenty years ago. In 1880, accord- 
ing to the returns of the United States Fish Commission, the total 
catch in Delaware Bay amounted to 4,300,000 in number, worth 
$16,300. In 1890, it was only 1,939,670, worth $8,580, and in 1897 it 
was still further reduced to 1,206,095, worth $8,393. The value of 
the horseshoe crabs ranges from $4 to $8 per thousand and the weight 
averages about 2 pounds each. 

In preparing them for fertilizer, the entire crabs are sometimes 
merely stacked in piles until the}'' putrefy and become somewhat dry, 
when they are broken into fragments and composted with muck, 
lime, or other suitable materials. Two or three small factories exist 
at which the crabs are dried and ground, or they are ground while 
green and then mixed with sodium sulphate or sulphuric acid. The 
product sells for $15 to $25 per ton, and is an excellent fertilizer for 
grain and fruits. The output in 1880 approximated 1,950 tons, in 1890 
it was reduced to 880 tons, and in 1901 it was still further reduced to 
500 tons. 

When lobsters were canned on the coast of Maine, a desirable grade 
of fertilizer was made from the shells and other refuse of the can- 
neries. This refuse was sold at a nominal price at the factories, or 
given away for the hauling. The farmers collecting it would usually 
dry and grind it and then spread it on the land. Letters patent were 
issued to William D. Hall, in 1865, for the preparation of this ferti- 
lizer, but his rights in the matter were never protected. This waste 
is thus utilized at the present time at the lobster canneries in Nova 
Scotia and New Brunswick. 

The shells of shrimp produced in the fisheries of California and 
Louisiana are used to a considerable extent for fertilizer, which is 
employed by the Chinese not only on the Pacific seaboard but also in 
the Orient. The shells are removed from the dried shrimp and sold 

F. C. 1903 18 



274 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

at about $5 per ton. In California they are especially valued in 
strawberry and vegetable culture, while in China their principal use 
is as fertilizer for rice, tea plants, etc. In strawberry culture, from 
300 to 400 pounds are commonly applied to each acre. It has also 
been used in wheat -growing, being spread broadcast on the land after 
the first plowing. 

AGRICULTURAL LIME FROM MOLLUSK SHELLS. 

The shells of oysters, clams, mussels, etc., have long been valued 
for agricultural purposes. All along the Atlantic coast of the United 
States, the extinct oyster beds, the old shell heaps, and even the living 
oyster reefs have long been resorted to by the neighboring farmers as 
a storehouse for top-dressing for their fields. In the Gulf States the 
most luxuriant vegetation along the shore is upon the shell mounds 
and marl deposits. Most of the material, however, is obtained from 
the shucking establishments where mollusks are opened in large 
quantities. Previous to the discovery of the limestone resources of 
Pennsylvania and other States, large quantities of shells were burned 
for lime; but at present their use for this purpose is confined largely 
to localities where the shells are unusually abundant and cheap. 

An article in the Country Gentleman, volume 7, page 155, refers to 
the use of mussel shells for manure with especial reference to Essex 
County, Mass., as follows: 

Thousands of cords of mussel shells are annually taken from the beds of the 
streams bordering on the sea and used on cultivated ground. I have repeatedly 
witnessed the value of this fertilizer in the growing of carrots and onions. The 
very best crop of carrots I saw the last season, more than 34 tons to the acre, 
had no other fertilizer applied to the land. For the last thirty years I have 
known it applied to lands on which onions have been grown, with a product 
varying from 300 to 600 bushels to the acre. It sells, delivered several miles 
from where it is dug, at $4 to $5 the cord. It is usually gathered in the winter 
months, taken to the shore in scows or gondolas, and thence to the fields where 
it is used. Sometimes it is laid in a pile of several cords together, and after it 
has been exposed to the frosts of winter, distributed from 4 to 8 cords to the 
acre. At other times it is laid out in heaps of a few bushels only, which remain 
for a time exposed to the frost. 

According to Storer, "lime is not a fertilizer in itself, but is of 
indirect value on land in unlocking the available potash, phosphorus, 
and nitrogen in the soil." It also renders heavy, compact soils looser 
in texture and tends to bind particles of loose, leachy soils. 

It is difficult to approximate the sum total of value which shells 
confer on agriculture, owing to the extensive use of marl deposits. 
Of refuse shells from shucking-houses and the like, the quantity used 
in this country is doubtless upward of 60,000 tons annualby. 

The prepared lime is generally preferred to the ground shells. 
Analyses indicate that the organic matter contained in shells is well- 
nigh free from nitrogen, and there is no evidence that it is of any use 
as manure. It appears, therefore, that there is no need for the 
expense of grinding the shells and of carting the useless constituents 



AQUATIC PRODUCTS AS FERTILIZERS. 275 

which can be expelled by burning. Since grinding does not reduce 
the material to so fine a state as burning does, the ground shell is 
not so active chemically. 

The most popular manner of utilizing shells is to burn them and 
slack the product with water. The slacking may be done in heaps 
covered with moistened earth, and the fine powdery hydrate of lime 
spread directly upon the land; or the lime may be used in the com- 
post heap; or the quicklime may be left to become air-slacked by 
exposure to the air, and the product be applied to the land instead 
of leached ashes. 

AQUATIC PLANTS AS FERTILIZERS. 

Although it does not appear that the many properties of aquatic 
plants have been fully exploited, their uses are far more numerous 
and diversified than is generally supposed. Their most widely known 
economic value is as furnishing thousands of tons of fertilizer and a 
great variety of nutritious and wholesome foods. In addition thereto, 
they are utilized in the production of many chemicals, especially 
iodine and bromine, and as a constituent in glues and gelatines, and 
as a basis for trade fruit-jellies. They also serve in sizing fabrics, in 
refining beer, as a mordant in dyeing, as composition in cement for 
covering boilers,* for stuffing upholstery, packing porcelain, in making 
paper, fishing-lines, ropes, buttons, handles for cutlery, as tents in 
surgical operations, etc. The gathering of seaweeds in Great Britain 
early in the present century is said to have given employment to 
about 100,000 persons, the product being used in the manufacture of 
carbonate of soda. 

On the coasts of France and the British Isles thousands of tons of 
seaweeds are collected annually for fertilizing the crops. In China 
and Japan they have been used as fertilizer for manj^ centuries, but 
in recent years the employment of seaweeds for this purpose has been 
much reduced, owing to their more extended use as food and in the 
chemical and manufacturing industries. In the New England States 
they are probably the most important fertilizing material used on 
those farms immediately adjoining the sea. According to Storer, 
with the exception of the farms of the Connecticut Valley and those 
enriched by fish scrap or by manures received from the cities, ' ' the 
only really fertile tracts in New England are to be found back of 
those sea beaches upon which an abundant supply of seaweeds is 
thrown up by storms." In the Middle Atlantic States the use of sea- 
weeds as fertilizer is not so extensive, but in the aggregate very large 
quantities are employed. Elsewhere in the United States their use is 
of less importance. 

There are three principal groups of aquatic plants used in this 
country for fertilizer, viz, rockweeds, kelp, and eelgrass or grass rack. 
Rockweeds are the large dark-colored plants furnished with small 
bladders or snappers, which constitute at least 75 per cent of the 



276 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

covering of rocks and stones between high and low water marks on 
the coast from Nova Scotia to New York. There are two prominent 
species of 1 liese, the round-stalked and the flat-stalked. The principal 
species of kelp, viz, the ribbon-weed and the broad ribbon-weed or 
devil's apron, are common on the rocks at and below the low-water 
mark from Newfoundland to the New Jersey coast. In the north of 
Europe both of these species are used for food to a considerable 
extent. Dulse, Irish moss, and other species may also be used for 
fertilizer, but the quantity obtained is so small that they are of little 
importance in this connection. 

The principal fertilizing agencies in aquatic plants are nitrogen and 
potash; the quantity of phosphoric acid is very small, amounting to 
only about 10 per cent as much as the above two combined. Seaweeds 
also contain considerable quantities of lime and magnesia. By the 
addition of some material containing a large percentage of phosphoric 
acid, as bone meal, for instance, a "complete fertilizer" is formed. 
This is frequently very important in order to secure the full value 
of the nitrogen and potash contained in the seaweeds. 

According to analyses made by the Rhode Island Agricultural 
Experiment Station/' the average percentage of fertilizing constit- 
uents and of water contained in various aquatic plants in the fresh 
state collected at different seasons on the coast of fib ode Island is as 
follows. For convenience of comparison, analysis of average barnyard 
manure is appended. 



Materials. 



Rockweed, flat-stalked 

Rockweed, round-stalked 

Broad ribbon-weed, or devil's apron 

Ribbon-weed, kelp, or tangle 

Dulse 

Irish moss 

Eelgrass 

Barnyard manure - 



Nitrogen. 



Per cent. 
.38 
.24 
.23 
.17 
.37 
.57 
.35 
.49 



Phosphoric 
acid. 


Potash. 


Per cent. 


Per rent. 


.12 


.05 


.08 


.64 


.06 


.31 


.05 


.16 


.09 


1.07 


.13 


1.02 


.07 


.32 


.32 


.43 



Water. 



Per <■< at. 
76. 56 
77. 26 
87.50 
87.99 
86. 25 
76.03 
81.19 



The total quantity of the fertilizing ingredients in plants is very 
small in proportion to the weight of the material, this being due prin- 
cipally to the large content of water. Usually at least 75 per cent of 
the weight of aquatic plants consists of water, and about 80 per cent 
of the remainder is a soft, easily decomposable form of organic matter. 
The plants decompose rapidly, and the water separates from them 
quickly, the weeds left in heaps on the beach being reduced to one- 
half or one-third of their original bulk in a few T weeks. Since much 
of the fertilizing constituents, especially the nitrogen, wastes away in 
this process, it is important that the plants be used within as short a 
time as practicable after they have been collected. For the same 
reason it is much better to collect weeds directly from the rocks, or 



a Bxilletin No. 21 of Rhode Island Agricultural Experiment Station, January, 1893. 



AQUATIC PRODUCTS AS FERTILIZERS. 277 

those just thrown up by a storm, rather than those which have lain 
on the beach for a considerable time. 

The large content of potash makes sea plants, particularly rock- 
weeds, especially favorable to the growth of clover. Storer refers to 
the abundant natural growth of red clover upon the tract of country 
back of Rye Beach, Maine, which has been manured with these plants 
since the settlement of the country. Seaweeds are also excellent for 
wheat, and are' used for parsnips, turnips, and to some extent for 
potatoes, although it is claimed that they impart a somewhat unpleas- 
ant flavor to the last-named. The general opinion in this country is 
that potatoes grown with seaweeds are much less liable to be affected 
by scab than those grown with barnyard manure, but they are less 
mealy and of inferior flavor/' Seaweeds have been strongly recom- 
mended for tobacco-culture, but owing to their effect on the quality 
of the leaf, they are not much used for this purpose. They are also 
highly recommended for cauliflower and cabbages. They act very 
quickly, and the effect of their application is confined largely to the 
season in which they are used, having little action upon the second 
and succeeding crops. 

Owing to their small content of fertilizing materials and the large 
amount of moisture, aquatic plants are usually rather expensive for 
fertilizer if long cartage is required, at least 4 tons of water being 
transported for every ton of dry material. This limits their value to 
the immediate vicinity of the beaches, and they are rarely used on 
land more than 10 or 12 miles from the coast. 

However, the manurial value of seaweeds must not be regarded 
merely from the point of view of the fertilizing agencies which they 
contain. They have a mechanical action on the soil, tending to make 
it friable and binding its constituents together; but the manufacture 
of soil is rather expensive where there is so much good land avail- 
able as in this country. They have an advantage over barnyard 
manure in the freedom from seeds of land weeds. Formerly it was 
considered desirable to apply the material in the form of a compost 
with lime or gypsum, but experience of recent } r ears indicates that it 
does not pay as a rule to compost them, except possibly in case of 
eelgrass and also rockweeds, to be applied as a summer or autumn 
top-dressing for grassland. 6 The usual practice in applying them is 
to plow the seaweeds into the soil or to spread them upon the land as 
a top-dressing, the plants being in either case in as fresh a state as 
practicable. They also tend to prevent the crops from suffering from 
summer droughts, grass fields dressed with seaweeds frequently 
remaining green when adjacent fields are suffering. 

So important is the crop of seaweeds in the Channel Islands that 
special laws are enforced to govern their collection and distribution. 
The cutting of weeds from the rocks is restricted to certain seasons 
comprising about four or five weeks each year. Those cast up on the 

a See Bulletin No. 21 of Rhode Island Agricultural Experiment Station, p. 30. & Ibid p. 8. 



278 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 

shores by the action of the waves are collected throughout the year and 
especially during stormy weather, furnishing emploj'ment to a large 
proportion of the inhabitants of Guernsey and Jersey. They are 
applied to the land not only in a green state, as in this country, but 
are also burned on the beach and on -the cottage hearths and the ashes 
used as fertilizer. 

Large quantities of seaweeds are also burned on the coast of France, 
especially in Brittany and Normandy, and on the coasts of Ireland 
and Scotland. In this process the plants are usually treated for the 
obtainment of iodine and salts of potassium and sodium, leaving the 
potash salts as the principal fertilizing agent. Although greatly 
reduced, owing to the production of iodine from South American 
caliche, the quantity of iodine made from the ashes of seaweeds is 
j^et very large. The ashes of seaweeds are not used as fertilizer to 
any great extent, if at all, in this country, owing to the fact that, in 
burning, the valuable nitrogen is driven off and lost. However, for 
use at a greater distance than 12 or 15 miles from the coast it might 
be found practicable to burn them if this can be done with a small 
expenditure. 

Several unsuccessful attempts have been made in this country to 
establish a profitable business in preparing commercial fertilizer from 
seaweeds. About thirty years ago a factory was built for this purpose 
at Boothbay, Me. Dried seaweeds were ground in a mill formed of 40 
circular saws, 20 having teeth and 20 without. These were placed 
alternately on an iron shaft and so adjusted as to revolve in a conca ve 
trough fitted with 40 steel plates. The shaft weighed 1,000 pounds 
and made upward of 2,000 revolutions per minute. With this appa- 
ratus 3 tons per hour of the thoroughly dried seaweeds could be 
reduced to about the fineness of oats. There proved to be an insuffi- 
cient market for the fertilizer, and its manufacture was discontinued 
in a few years." Most of it was sold in Connecticut for the use of 
tobacco-growers. The average price at the factory for the prepared 
material was about $8 per ton. 

Notwithstanding its relatively large content of nitrogen, phosphoric 
acid, and potash, as revealed bj r chemical analysis, eelgrass is of very 
little value as a fertilizer, owing to the difficulty in making those 
constituents available. According to Storer's well-known work on 
fertilizers (pp. 1G7-168, vol. 2) : 

Eelgrass taken by itself has little or no fertilizing power. It will hardly rot 
anywhere, either in the ground, in the hogsty, or in the manure or compost heap. 
It is a distinctly inconvenient thing, moreover, to have in the way of the plow- 
share or the dungfork. It has long stood as a kind of reproach among the vege- 
table manures, much as leather scraps stand in the list of animal products. For 
mulching for covering bins or piles of roots as protection against frost, moldi- 
ness, and decay, and for banking up in autumn around stables, greenhouses, 
cisterns, cellars, and pumps, eelgrass has been found useful, and this is about all 



« See The Fishery Industries of the United States, Sec. II, p. <i'». 



AQUATIC PRODUCTS AS FERTILIZERS. 279 

that could have been said in its favor until very recently. Considered as a manure, 
it was rejected by the farmers long ago. It has been tried and found wanting by 
numerous generations of men. Still, on analysis it appears that eelgrass con- 
tains a considerable proportion of fertilizing matters, and there can be no doubt 
that it will be found amenable to proper treatment and will eventually be prized 
as a manure. Besides l£ per cent of nitrogen, air-dried eelgrass contains 1 per 
cent of potash and 0.25 per cent of phosphoric acid. The ashes of eelgrass con- 
tain 7 per cent of potash and li per cent of phosphoric acid, which is about as 
much as is contained in ordinary house ashes from wood fires. The trouble with 
eelgrass is, as was said before, that it will not rot in the soil. It must be coerced 
in some way in order to make its fertilizing constituents available for crops. It 
might be burned, for example, to ashes in order to get the potash and phosphoric 
acid; or, much better, the organic matter may be disorganized by composting the 
grass with lime or with rockweed. That is to say, the eelgrass may either be 
thrown into heaps, with layers of lime interpolated, in order to reduce the resisting 
tissiae to a manageable form, or it may be built into a heap, layer by layer, with 
fresh rockweed or sea manure, and so subjected to destructive fermentation. 

It is quite impracticable to form a close estimate of* the total quan- 
tity of aquatic plants used for fertilizer in this country. The latest 
returns of the United States Fish Commission show an output on the 
New England coast of 75,000 tons, worth about $1 per ton, but these 
figures probably do not show the total production. According to the 
Rhode Island census of 1885, $65,041 worth of seaweeds were used in 
that State alone during the census year, compared with a total of 
$101,133 worth of "commercial" fertilizers. This represents only a 
small percentage of the total quantity obtainable, it being possible to 
collect a thousand or more tons to the mile of that coast. The growth 
of the plants is rapid, and rocks scraped bare may be covered with 
kelp 5 or 6 feet long the following year. 



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